


What would Loki do? - Act 4

by LucyGodwing



Series: What would Loki/Harley do? [6]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Avenger Bucky Barnes, Avenger James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Avenger Loki (Marvel), Avenger Sam Wilson, Camp Nanowrimo, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Established Relationship, Fix-It, Gen, M/M, Married Couple, Not Captain America: The Winter Soldier Compliant, Not Thor: The Dark World Compliant, POV Loki (Marvel), POV Third Person, Set in 2015 - 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:21:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 40,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25746562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LucyGodwing/pseuds/LucyGodwing
Summary: "Act 4" starts right before the events of "Age of Ultron", after the changed events of "Thor: The Dark World" and "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" (there is a recap in chapter one).It's 2015, Loki and James have been spoken free and things are finally looking up for the Trickster, if it weren't for the looming shadow of the Titan. The Avengers have to find the Sceptre to make sure that it stays safe and away from Thanos' hands. They also have to find away to rid themselves of the Titan once and for all, but how without endangering so many innocent lives?
Relationships: Loki/Tony Stark, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: What would Loki/Harley do? [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1446508
Comments: 25
Kudos: 11





	1. Dear Diary (Loki Edition)

**Author's Note:**

> Act 4 will not drag itself like Interlude did, it will have rather fast-paced chapters where months are skipped, so there won't be much (or any, I'm not sure at the moment) soft family stuff going on in favour of getting to the action. I tried to keep the chapters at a minimum of 3.000 words, the first chapter landed a little under the limit (according to Word), but not by much.
> 
> @It_is_i34 helped proofread the first chapter, thank you again :)
> 
> I also won't be posting as quickly, so that I can really read through the chapters before posting them, most of it's been standing for a few months now, but I had exams and wanted to write an overview before going into the finale. So I will be posting roughly once a week, the second chapter possibly a bit sooner than that.
> 
> There is a high possibility I will start posting the yet unfinished spin-off before this work will be finished, but I will make sure that no chapters will spoil anything in the main work or the other way around. The spin-off will have a different POV though. I will make announcements about this again once the story has gotten to that point :)
> 
> As (almost) always, there are a lot of characters that could be tagged, but I won't, as they only appear fleetingly and/or don't take a major role in this fic. Some characters are not tagged as they are surprise characters and there is a lot of stuff left untagged to not give the story too much away (needless to say, the story did not always go the way I expected)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is in first person, as it is a diary entry, the rest of the fic will be third person.

Dear Diary,

If anyone would have told me a decade ago that by now I would have more than a handful of children, a gorgeous husband and people that stood up for me, I would have never believed them. It all started when I was visiting Midgard at the very end of their year 2008. Getting infected with a virus had me remaining on the realm, where I had fallen into the hands of three capable people… To be honest, more two capable people and very nice hospital staff. Those three people were Virginia Potts, Harold Hogan and Anthony Stark. I had quickly fallen for Anthony Stark, beside his mocking of my name. The man was very intriguing and very handsome, never would I have thought he and I would end up marrying only three years later.

Anthony got abducted at the beginning of the year, while working abroad... That all sounds so simple, like it was a minor thing, like it had nothing to do with his work. Anthony worked in weapons construction back then, he was the boss. His father had started the weapons business and after he died, it went to Anthony. But that has barely anything to do with how we got here, that is not my story to tell. As I wrote, Anthony had gotten abducted, held to make weaponry for terrorists and I, having fallen in love with the inventor’s humour and... no I think, there wasn’t much to it at the point, well, I finally had enough with the rules of Asgard.

We were always told we could not interfere with the more ignorant realms. As it were, Midgard wasn’t as ignorant anymore. I had to act behind closed doors, in secret, putting myself out there wouldn’t have been good for any of us. A magician some might still believe, but an actual shapeshifter might be too impossible to not wish to study. And they do study, the Mortals, they love that. Gone are the times where witches are burned, instead they would be chained and studied. Not much better from what I can see.

I searched for Anthony in my dreams and when I finally found him, I healed him, subtly, not making myself seen. He broke free after three months, my little genius, he would not have needed my help in the slightest. I guess in the end that’s why Heimdall did not report the indiscretion to Odin. Maybe it was also to protect his own hide, as he had been the reason I was left bedridden on Midgard.

I left after that, returning to Asgard, to the boring life I had, set on never again seeing Anthony’s face. Alas, it was not to be. My spite against Thor after the announcement of him being crowned king made me act rashly. I only had to prove he was not ready to be king for the All-Father to hopefully consider me, who has sacrificed so much in the past, as a better king. Váli to my knowledge still remaining in the dungeons and Sleipnir in the stables, it was the one way to free my last family, my son, the one that I counted. I could not hope for Thor’s willingness to act, to free him. While I was planning though, I learned that my plans were not to be. Váli had been brought to his end while I remained on Midgard. I was furious, not merely willing to plan a slight prank that would have Thor act out, but I was willing to sacrifice everything. I was willing to die, as I had nought to live for.

So I planned to let the Jötnar into Asgard, only a handful, for Thor to act out. I guess I was still hoping for it not to be true, to still have a son, to still have a chance. Thor acted like I had assumed, even worse, he dragged me into it. On Jotunheim I found out I never had any chance for an Æsir throne, as I was not Æsir in the first place. I was, am, in fact a Jötnar by birth, son to no other than King Laufey himself. A throne I never wanted, a throne I’ll never claim. Thor was exiled on Midgard for his misstep. Thor, the one that would blab out any and all of Asgard’s secrets. And in a turn of events, I got the throne I had always wanted, just for a moment, as the All-Father was in Odinsleep. I confirmed that my son was not in the dungeons anymore, which made everything else seem like it did not matter anymore. So it should not have surprised anyone when I tricked Laufey to come to Asgard and killed him for my false father. I still pretend I did it for him, for Asgard, but in truth, I am not entirely sure, already having been stuck in the beginnings of Sorcerer’s Madness.

I fell from Asgard, after wanting to destroy Jotunheim. I had nothing to live for and there was not a single ounce of love left for me in my foster father’s eyes. I let go of Gungir, fell into the abyss, the void and was caught by Thanos.

After that began the most horrible years of my life. Time works differently in the void, slower, so the two years that went by on Midgard were most certainly not two years in the void. It was far longer, the torture, the endless questioning about Asgard and its knowledge. I never spoke a word about Asgard. The All-Father should have been proud. The most colourful torture and rape that the Titan could imagine. He isn’t the most imaginative man, but he is cruel. Letting the Chitauri have a piece of me was probably not because he was too busy, but because I had not broken when he himself had inflicted the pain. Needless to say, I did not break at their hands as much as he wished. I had the Chitauri’s undivided attention, but without any access to my Seiðr, and with no body to rely on, I could not escape.

In the end, the prospect of a Titan child got the attention of the monster back. I had always regarded Jötnar as monsters, so maybe, a monster laying with another monster was fated. Needless to say, that was the last thing that broke me. I was empty after that, barely a soul left, barely a thought left. I don’t know where the Titan had found the Sceptre, but it matters nought in the end. He sent me to conquer Midgard for him. My thoughts were his and the ones of the Other. They had gone without needless slaughter for too long.

Thanos did not conquer Midgard. Neither did I. I got lucky. I was slammed hard enough into the ground by the Hulk, a massive green beast, the alter ego of a Doctor Robert Bruce Banner, that Thanos could not control me any longer, that the connection was cut. I should be thankful it also left me with amnesia about my time in space.

Anthony was there again, still as charming as he had been before, though slightly more troubled, slightly more haunted. He had been with Virginia at the point, not that he told me while flirting shamelessly. I got lucky. Thor had wanted to drag me back to Asgard, were death surely awaited me, but Anthony had put in a good word and they believed that I had been controlled. My ability to carry babes was discovered soon after and the fact that Anthony and I were driven apart after that had nought to do with that, thankfully. I had wished to see how he would act, knowing extensively how our lives would play out, if he should wish for us to be together. He was angry that I could not see a future for us together and showed me, he backhanded me and could not look into my eyes after.

Steven, Clinton and Natalia were the ones that cared for me mostly after that. Slowly they became Steve, Clint and Nat, I regarded them as acquaintances still, even if I should, could have regarded them as friends. Another important person in that chapter of my life was Nicholas Joseph Fury, only called Fury by most people around him. He was the director of an organisation called S.H.I.E.L.D. which Nat and Clint both worked for and they were very interested about any threats from ‘space’. It was in my best interests to cooperate.

Three weeks it took for me to finally acknowledge my comment towards Anthony as harsh and asked him, in mind long called Tony at the point, for a second chance. He took me up on it. The wedding only a week later had most certainly not been planned. I had gotten pregnant quickly and in looking for reassurance and the impending recapture of my person on behalf of Asgard had made him promise me a future. Heimdall had been the one to warn me, no one different would have been able to. Being married to another after Sigyn had felt odd, but at the same time reassuring that someone wanted me. Being married also would have been my ticket back to Asgard.

Thor’s chosen beloved, Jane Foster, joined me on my trip back to Asgard. After I was judged, I was thrown into the dungeons and unbeknownst to Odin tortured and raped repeatedly, as I was a Jötunn. The hate for Jötnar by Æsir is greater than the hate of all alien life, or even all enhanced Humans on Earth. Æsir have centuries to hate against another race while Humans do not have the time for that sort of hate. Svaðilfari and Fandral were behind the torture and rape. As it turns out, Svaðilfari is not in fact a horse, but another shapeshifter. I was left blind and mute with no access to my Seiðr, but Thor saved me. After seeing the extent of my wounds, Odin pardoned me, to remain on Earth. Thor joined me and Jane on our trip back.

A few complications and a lot of healing later, my first daughter, Tony’s firstborn was born on Earth. We named her Runa. She is absolutely beautiful. Directly after coming back to Earth I started dreaming of the future. One I had to prevent. Not only for my own survival but to hide the contents of the future away from Thanos. The Aether, the third Infinity Stone had entered the game. Of course, I already knew of the Time Stone, but I also knew it was safe. The Aether had been safe due to Bor. It had to stay safe and as I was the only one to know of its existence, know it would become unsafe it was my responsibility to prevent anything happening to it.

It also became known early on that the Sorcerer’s Madness would become a problem. The only known solution was to bind the affected sorcerer’s body to another unaffected body. It took a while for all preparations to be completed, but then I bound myself to Tony not just in mind, but in body as well. We can feel each other’s feelings, feel hurt, physical and emotional, but also feel the good things the other feels, the joy, the arousal even. Coitus is extremely exhilarating while being bound to the partner’s body.

In the end, it was the future dream, well the choices I made while trying to prevent that future, that drove a wedge between Tony and I. I had almost died on Svartalfheim, while slaying the last remaining Dark Elves on Odin’s orders. Of course, Tony was angry, he had not known I would quite possibly die at the hands of such beasts. Well, he and I also had not known that I would be engaging in battle with them at all, but that matters not. Tony slapped me, tearing at the bond in turn, leaving me vulnerable as I slowly went deaf. Clint helped me and brought me to Steve, so I would not have to stay within S.H.I.E.L.D., but with a friend. In my time in Washington D.C. I made another friend, the second on Earth, if one would not count the Ancient One and disregard the entire population of Wakanda. The friend in D.C. is Sam Wilson, the friend I had made before that is May Parker, who I met at the remembrance event that same year.

Finally, the day of the dream approached and I got my last bearings together. It all worked out. The Aether is still locked within its prison and Jane is safe and sound.

The aftermath of the entire event was grave. Everyone hated upon Tony for rejecting me and in turn the bond. I still loved him, still love him though. Clint, who was the most angry with Tony became a very supporting figure in my life, as did Steve, who had heard the whole story from Clint, at least as much as Clint knew and as much as I disclosed. I also finally told the Avengers about the Infinity Stones, so I do not have to carry the burden alone any longer. Tony and I slowly worked things out, much to the mistrust of some of the Avengers. Then the winter holidays approached and with it came Harley and Sleipnir. I totally forgot to mention Harley before.

Harley Keener is a young boy Tony met while I had been on Asgard, he is a smart little inventor and I’d like to say a very keen trickster. For me, he is a son and while I do not see Narfi or Váli in him, I see a young Lokason still.

Prince T’Challa and Princess Shuri also visited and the Prince overstepped, forever shattering our friendship. T’Challa’s transgression brought Tony and I closer still and led to the slow approval of Steve and Clint. The holidays themselves weren’t the best and it all went to hell shortly after with the disappearance of the Sceptre and the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., well, the almost-fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. Project Insight was stopped, before it could start, Steve confronted his mind-controlled best friend, who inevitably fled the scene, still not fully remembering him. I tracked him and healed his mind, slowly, thoroughly in the form of a young feline. I did not even have to plant the thought into James’ head, but James inevitably came to the Avengers Tower. Truth be told, I would have loathed to have to go to such lengths. James also remembered killing Tony’s parents on HYDRA’s orders, but as Tony had experience with me and Clint having been controlled, he reacted not as violently as Steve apparently thought he might react.

What else happened after that? Oh, we had a huge party, a ‘yay, we survived’ thing and the team was finally told that Coulson was alive and now leading the hidden side of S.H.I.E.L.D.

After that it was hard to get back to normal, but we now had therapists to help us. The public was finally told that Tony and I are married, which led to protests that still go on to this day, Sam and James joined the Avengers after joining us in Training, Sam in disguise, as he had extended family to protect. The W.S.C. wanted blood, specifically James’ and mine. Not literal blood, but they were extremely angry. Finally James and I had to run, taking Runa with us. Sleipnir joined us later, confirming that I was not just pregnant, but indeed pregnant with twins.

Things slowly calmed down again and James got his arm removed. James also got together with Sam, which was still a challenge while we were ‘on the run’. Then Heimdall revealed that Narfi and Váli were alive and Sleipnir and I had to rescue them before they could overheat. Summer started, Harley got back into town and Tony and I got married for the second time, just so that nobody could claim it a ‘marriage of convenience’. After that we could stay in New York for about two months, before the W.S.C. was out for blood again. As much as I hated it, I had to rely on Wakanda to keep my family safe.

While the lawyers worked on clearing James, they also worked on my case, but it was pretty clear that I would have to show up in person. In October the final pin dropped and I brought my family back to New York. The case also brought the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ to Earth, revealing in turn that they knew where the Power Stone was and that Gamora, who used to be one of Thanos’ children, had knowledge of the last stone.

The ‘punishment’ that the lawyers and the W.S.C. could settle on was that I should stay with the Avengers and work as a liaison for S.H.I.E.L.D. It was far less of a punishment than what I believed I deserved. That same work also brought me to be at Coulson’s back and call. That led to future-dreams of one of his team dying, one Antoine Triplett, the grandson of one of the Howling Commandos. Saving him turned out to be a lot easier than I first believed, as I only had to track his movements the day he died, leave a corpse of his body in his stead and teleported him out of the area.

Well, that’s it for now. We are looking for the Sceptre at the moment, even though I don’t ever want to have it near me again. And then we finally have to figure out a way to deal with Thanos, his children and his army.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter gives only a rough overview about the previous works, but does not go into too much detail to not spoil anything for the newcomers that might still want to read the past works. :)


	2. Mission HYDRA

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Battle of Sudan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Act 4 starts after the Battle of Sudan, in the timeline shortly before the Battle of Sokovia, it's not need to know that there was this battle to understand this chapter :) here's a link if anyone is interested in the Battle: [Battle of Sudan](https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Battle_of_Sudan)

“So that’s just the kinda thing you do”, Trip said with a laugh, “This is crazy. You defeat an entire HYDRA outpost and the first thing you say is: ‘Let’s get Take-Out for dinner’.”

Loki smiled from the couch in the living room, where he and James watched the scene. Trip still wasn’t allowed as ‘Avenger’ on scene, so he acted as their pilot and sometimes went out to protect the Quinjet. The next Training session would be right after Tony’s birthday, but that still wasn’t for a month.

Trip was scheduled to visit Coulson’s base every weekend for the time being, for the long run, every two weeks, while Loki visited Hill at the Triskelion. They did a debrief afterwards, first together, before speaking to the team.

And, while James had decidedly tried to stay clear of all HYDRA missions, Trip had been eager to step in and at least help the best way he was allowed to. At first he’d complained a little about not being able to do more than defend himself, their equipment and the Avengers, but after he realised that both James and Sam had to go through thorough testing before even stepping on the field, he’d calmed down some.

The other information, that all Avengers could have been and still could be thrown out of the team with every Training session could clearly be seen, when they watched which training sessions Loki and James had been able to attend last year, coinciding with neither of them actively being on missions when they hadn’t attended the one in August and Loki still not being on any missions after he couldn’t participate in the November training. Passively helping because they’d been approved before was all they could do and all Trip was allowed to do as well.

“I’m thinking Chinese”, Tony said, interrupting Loki’s train of thought.

“Oh, come on”, Clint complained, “I’ve been craving Pizza all week.”

“Alright”, Loki decided, “J.A.R.V.I.S. make a poll, everybody, put in your votes.”

Swiftly everybody, even if they were tired after a long battle, put in their votes, Tony’s suggestion winning by only two votes and they went back in the Quinjet, that had barely survived almost getting shot out of the sky. Only Trip’s and Clint’s expert handling of the plane had let it survive and Trip had repaired what he could while the others had been in the field. Thankfully it was still able to fly, but they’d park it at the compound for the time being. Things weren’t fully operational there yet, but at least it had a hangar where they could do repairs.

Last year, after Sam and James joined, it had been quickly settled, that the tower wasn’t a place that could somehow grow and still give everyone private space. With now ten, soon surely eleven Avengers, they would need a new place and Tony had started renovating an old S.I. facility to get to be their new headquarters.

At first, Tony had wanted to sell, but then, realising this would cause a massive relocation of many S.I. employees, he decided to let the tower remain in S.I.’s hands. On the other hand, to many vigilantes and heroes around the city the tower was also a safe place where they could get treated without many non-vital questions getting asked.

The tower would be made into a symbol, having medical personnel on stand-by, but only the family would actually have permanent rooms in the tower, all other rooms, except the beloved Pillow Jail would be made into guest rooms again.

“So”, Loki said to James as he got up and stretched. “We got a few hours to spare, while they travel back from Africa. Wanna spar and then take one of Tony’s cars to pick up the food on the way?”

“Can do”, James answered with a smile.

“J.A.R.V.I.S., gather the orders and then pick one of our usual places, tell them the time we want to pick it up, and make it one, that actually seems possible in New York’s traffic.”

“Sure thing, Master Stark, I will also remind you beforehand when you have to stop training to still have enough time to shower before you leave.”

“Thank you, J, that’s nice of you.”

“He’s an A.I.”, James hissed at Loki, “He doesn’t have feelings, he doesn’t need to be…”

Loki stopped him with a raised eyebrow. “He has control of the entire tower, if he wanted, he could even find ways to act around Tony’s wishes.”

“So we’re living with an evil mastermind?”, James asked Loki.

“Why do you think we’re relocating?”, Loki asked back.

“But J.A.R.V.I.S. is moving to the compound as well.”

“Well, I do believe that Sir has had an idea with deciding not to build into the sky again”, J.A.R.V.I.S. chimed in.

“The falls are shorter and less deadly”, Loki concluded and then the two Avengers fell into short laughter.

Surprisingly enough, Loki and James arrived at the restaurant with 20 minutes to spare. Sadly, also long enough time for the press to follow them. Sighing, Loki stepped outside and let James wait inside to get the food and not have to deal with the crowd.

“Ladies, gentlemen”, Loki greeted the camera crew and reporters with a sweet smile, taking his sunglasses off and hanging them into the front of his polo shirt. “This is a great night to do some promotion for food, isn’t it?”

A few of the camera crew smirked and Loki smiled as well.

“Mister Stark, what’s the latest updates on the Avengers’ mission?”

“As my colleague and I are getting food, I say it’s done. Though debriefs and mission reports will still come before we can eventually enjoy the night.”

“Mister Stark, what are you saying to the accusations that you are sexist?”

“Me?”, Loki asked, transforming into a female for a moment, before transforming back, “sexist?”

“The Avengers”, corrected the reporter.

“Oh. This is about the fact that at the time being, we only have one female Avenger, isn’t it?”, Loki asked in the slightly oblivious tone he put on for reporters.

“Yes.”

“Well, we are always open to applications and are still personally giving out invitations. We would not force anyone on a team so controversially loved as the Avengers. We have a lot of women that assist the Avengers on every mission, be in the middle of it, scientific experts or afterwards as surgeons, if needed. The Avengers are not just the ten people going into the field, putting their own lives at risk for humanity.”

“But reports say, you had no women at your last training session.”

“Except Agent Romanoff, you mean”, Loki corrected her.

“No _new_ women.”

“That is correct. Might I then…” Loki looked into the camera directly. “Dear women, all around the world, hopefully speaking English, though that is technically not needed, you don’t need many requirements to apply to get tested to become a member of the Avengers team. All information on that can be found on our website, I believe. A health test is standard for all positions and a stamina test only for becoming an active member. We love to recruit from the military or several agencies, but that does not mean you cannot apply.” Loki turned to the reporter sweetly. “Do you wish to apply, Miss Everhart?”

“I very much love my job.”

“That is sad to hear”, Loki told her, putting on a sorry face, “Every woman that does _not_ apply, makes us look more sexist to the media. But I wish you luck and success in your current job.”

“Got the food”, James told Loki from behind and walked to the car with the bags.

“Thank you for your promotion to this lovely restaurant, that provides excellent food to the Avengers time and time again”, Loki told the reporters and waved friendly at the cameras, before following James to the car and putting on his sunglasses again.

“I hate them”, James murmured in Russian, while Loki buckled in.

“Don’t we all?”, Loki spoke in the same language and leaned back in the seat, as James started the car.

“Great entertainment”, Tony said, when they landed and he showed Loki the clip.

“Oh, I do so _love_ , when they stalk us.”

“You could have just teleported”, Tony told him.

“Where would be the fun in that?”

Loki waved his hand and ushered the Avengers to the showers, before waiting on Trip, who trailed after them, a tablet in hand. “Got the list”, he told Loki and sent it off to Tony for approval.

“Good. You need a shower as well, go.” Loki took the device from him and then returned into the compound kitchen, where he put the device aside.

“Any injured?”, he asked J.A.R.V.I.S., while he was waiting.

“Cuts and bruises”, the A.I. answered.

They were working with a self-reporting system at the moment, and, if any of the others witnessed hard hits, those were reported as well, but mostly already in field and sometimes even by the ones staying at home and watching the feeds.

Steve was the first out, as always and he took the glass of juice from Loki with a grateful smile, before they sat down on the sofa and went through the report the man had done, correcting a few mistakes and unclear formulations. Often the team already did their reports on their trips home, if they weren’t too exhausted, because there was not much more to do.

This was the routine now. They got home, got into shower, got their reports checked by Loki, or Trip, depending who went into field, sometimes even Hill, who was on stand-by not just for _that_ reason, whenever both liaisons were active. And then they did a short debrief, capturing all the reports in one to see if there were any empty spaces they might have missed, before they could finally have food. Thankfully the reports only took around a minute per person, the better the others became at making them. J.A.R.V.I.S. was a helping hand for all of them, of course, keeping the mission in one line, as it was sometimes hard to keep track what exactly happened when.

So, around half an hour later, they were finally ready to eat.

“So what did you two do today?”, Steve wanted to know.

“Play with the kids”, James started.

“Solve a few crossword puzzles”, Loki added.

“Play catch with DUM-E and U.”

“Oh yeah, those two need the attention”, Loki confirmed.

“Logic puzzles”, James thought of.

“Making bets”, Loki continued.

“I played a bit of guitar.”

“Yeah, the one Shuri sent is great.” Loki nodded and put another piece of chicken in his mouth.

“We chatted with Harley, remember?”

“Yeah, he’s extremely bored.”

“Decided J.A.R.V.I.S. someday will end us all.”

“True that”, Tony confirmed, noticing the humour in James’ voice easily.

“What else did we do?”, Loki wondered aloud.

“I don’t know, I can’t think of anything, Kitty-Cat, it’s not like we had to watch the comms and feeds of the Avengers or something.”

“No, that would be hilarious, if the Avengers actually had people looking out for them.”

“Like Trip, good job, your grandpa would be proud of those sniper skills.”

“Thanks, man”, Trip said, over the table to James. “But I’m not here because of my gramps.”

“Course not. You’re here, because you’re very good at what you do and are extremely loyal to a cause.”

Trip blushed slightly at that and Clint bumped his side friendly. “Getting praise like that, makes you feel good, doesn’t it?” Then Clint turned to James and Loki. “Where’s mine?”

Loki laughed. “Of course, our great Hawkeye, making the final shot to defeat the enemy, always at our back, please take our meals, you deserve them more than any of us at this table.”

Everyone laughed as well and the eating resumed.

“Oh yeah, we sparred”, James added after a while.

“Yeah. That was fun. What isn’t fun though is, that the media wants us all to be outshone, by putting one or two more women on the team.”

“We saw”, Nat told him with a grunt, “You handled that good.”

“Thanks.”

“Who won sparring?”, Tony asked.

“We’re not sure, we had to leave before we could end the fight”, Loki answered him.

“Darn it. We gotta make bets on that”, Clint decided.

They ate in silence again, the battle still swirling in everyone’s minds, mostly as they wondered how, after over a year, they were still fighting HYDRA without an end in sight and none of the battles had brought them any closer to getting the Sceptre. What they would do with that, if they would eventually get it was a whole different issue.

They decided not to return to the tower, as it would be swarmed with reporters, every time a mission ended and getting through there with a car wasn’t easy. So instead they drove to the mansion. The compound was still mostly in the works and while most rooms were already built, they weren’t equipped with beds yet.

Loki pulled Clint aside, before the archer went off to bed. “You really did do great, Clint”, he told him.

Clint’s shoulders sagged. “I didn’t mean to come off so…”

“Jealous?”

“I was thinking more like an arse.”

“It’s okay to be insecure, even if you’re the great Hawkeye that never misses a shot. You’re a vital part of this team and have saved our asses more times than anyone can possibly count.”

Clint’s head fell against Loki’s shoulder and Loki hugged him carefully.

“Another sniper on the team isn’t going to be easy, especially when he can fly the Quinjet as well, but he will never replace you, like Rhodey or Sam could never replace Tony and James could never replace Steve or you either. You might have similar skill-sets, but that does not mean that you’re replaceable. It means that, if you need some time for yourself, that you have someone to take your spot and cover you.”

“It’s just difficult”, Clint whispered.

“I bet that Trip has a lot of respect for you, that he still doesn’t know what would make him important enough to actually step onto that field as an Avenger and not just one highly trained S.H.I.E.L.D. operative.”

Clint chuckled wetly and Loki held him a little closer.

“You are not just _some_ guy with an arrow and a bow, you’re the mighty Hawkeye. Every other person could not make a shot like yours with an arrow and a bow. You’re exceptional in your field.”

Clint hid his face in Loki’s shoulder and Loki patted him on the back. “Thanks, Lo.”

“No problem, Clint. Do you want a hot chocolate?”

“It’s April, almost May, it’s already warm.”

“Then do you wish to join me for some ice cream?”

“Sure thing.” Clint wiped at his eyes and Loki led him away, getting them some chocolate and then sitting outside on the porch, watching Loki’s children run around and play with each other, at least those that could run around. Lily and Violet were watching them intently.

“Ever just want to go home?”, Loki asked, quietly.

“All the time, I need the downtime.”

“And right now it looks like we’re not getting that. Never getting that.”

Clint nodded slowly and Loki took his hand quietly. “It’s gonna get worse before it gets better. Spend time with them, you need to. Go home, be with them.”

Silently Clint laid his head on Loki’s shoulder and ate his ice cream. They both knew that they couldn’t know when the next battle would happen, they couldn’t know when Thanos would make his move. They could just be silent, watch and wait. Loki had his family here, near him, but Clint’s was far away. And they couldn’t just up and leave, take their things and go. Moving them to New York wasn’t an option when that was Clint’s only getaway. He needed that, the safe place away from everything.

Loki didn’t even notice Clint falling asleep, but he did notice when the archer was softly breathing on his shoulder. Tony walked by and took the bowls that Loki held out to him. For a while, Loki just sat there, letting Clint sleep at his side. Then he lifted the archer quietly and brought him up to his room, taking his shoes off and tugging him in. When he came back down, Tony smiled softly, before hugging him.

“Needed the Loki-time?”, he quietly asked.

“Yes”, Loki answered and pressed a short kiss to Tony’s temple.

“We all feel it”, Tony quietly said, “We feel the battle coming a mile away. Every week another base. We try to loosen up, but it’s getting heavier and heavier.”

“Like the world is pressing down on us.”

“Exactly. We’re the ‘Avengers’. We save the world one threat at a time and they set us on a higher pedestal, but beneath that, we’re still just people.”

Loki nodded, quietly. “I’m really scared to leave Earth, when it’ll come to it.”

“Leaving the girls at this time…”, Tony added with a short nod.

“At least the boys can protect them.”

“Yeah. At least there’s that.”

The two husbands held each other close for a while, before getting the kids inside again and settled into their beds. Tomorrow was just another day.

It was a short press briefing the next day, with only Loki and James attending as part of the Avengers. Director Hill had flown in with a working Quinjet to replace the other, at least for the time being. The Battle of Port Sudan was a relatively clean one, considering that Bruce was forced to transform into the Hulk in the middle of it.

“Black Widow had intel on a HYDRA base in Sudan and tracked that intel, finding an army of HYDRA soldiers and tanks when she reached destination. Their leader was one Doctor Jensen who used modified weapons against the Avengers. Thankfully all Avengers got out with nobody getting critically hurt. The shot that eventually defeated Doctor Jensen was made by Hawkeye. Any questions?”

“Where are the Avengers now?”

“Most are still in bed; battles can be quite tiring.”

A few reporters chuckled at that and Loki smiled a little. “Has HYDRA been defeated?”

“That remains to be seen. There are a lot of fanatics out there, but we cannot suddenly multiply and be everywhere at once. There are teams from other factions working on defeating them as well, mainly S.H.I.E.L.D. as they feel responsible for their rise. The Avengers are not machines. We need to sleep and eat like any of you. We got a responsibility to protect the world, as do soldiers for all different nations.”

“So you are comparing the Avengers to the military?”

“The Avengers could never live up to the military. We highly respect them. Four on our team were or are in the military, the other Humans on the team weren’t. The armed forces, whether it be the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, Marine Corps or the Coast Guard would outshine us any day.”

“So why not let _them_ handle HYDRA?”

“Good question. Thing is, the military moves slower than we can. Not physically, I’m sure most could outrun several of us at any time of the day, but by the time the forces would be on the field, the trail would have most likely already gone cold. If there are troops nearby that can help, we will always request their help, but we would never ask a single soldier to lay down their lives for a battle with super-human proportions.”

“Also, we would not consider HYDRA _their_ problem”, Hill added, “Like Loki said in the beginning, S.H.I.E.L.D. still considers it their problem and we wouldn’t make friends clean our house, would we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sweats*  
> Did I say we would be skipping through months? Well, not yet... (I will be skipping through more "unimportant stuff" though)


	3. Sokovia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is featuring heavy parts of Avengers: Age of Ultron, have fun :)
> 
> Oh and references to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but it's not really important to have watched the episode.

“Coulson found out where the Sceptre is”, Hill informed Trip and Loki in the evening. “He assumes Doctor List is there as well. He’s a HYDRA scientist that used to work for S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“Where?”, Loki asked, closing up.

“Sokovia.”

“Soko…” Loki and Trip looked at each, confused, both never heard the name before.

“It’s a country in Europe, HYDRA has a base there, Wolfgang von Strucker is manning it”, Hill explained.

“Are there agents in the area?”, Trip asked.

“The citizens are not particularly fond of the Americans. And also not particularly fond of the Avengers either, while we’re at it.”

“But we need to defeat HYDRA and get the Sceptre”, Loki said with a sigh. “Not that I want to be in a room with that thing ever again, so I’ll be sitting out this mission. Again.”

“And James will too”, Trip added, “How’s the base located?”

“Not good enough to get into a good sniping position I’m afraid.”

“Then I’ll leave it with the big guys and stay on the jet.”

“You’ll lead the briefing in the morning?”

Hill nodded. “Sure thing.”

The battle began quietly. Strucker had no idea when they landed the cloaked Quinjet out of the way of the base. Black Widow and Hawkeye stole one of HYDRA’s trucks and the battle was on. Falcon, War Machine and Iron Man were up high, while Black Widow, Hawkeye, Hulk and Captain America tore through the forces on the ground, with Thor occasionally joining them.

Loki and James were on edge while watching. They had brought the children to Xavier’s School in the morning, after the others had departed. They were prepared to go in, even James, all weapons cleaned and ready and Loki had put a Golden Apple into his dimensional pocket, before switching into mission gear. He did not wish to use it anytime soon, but if he needed a power-up or any other lives of their team were at risk, he’d be able to use it.

The first sign this was the right place, that intel panned out, was when Iron Man flew into a force field.

 **[Iron Man]:** “Shit.”

 **[Captain America]:** “Language!”

 **[War Machine]:** “J.A.R.V.I.S., what just happened?”

 **[J.A.R.V.I.S.]:** “The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield. Strucker’s technology is well beyond any other HYDRA base we’ve taken.”

 **[Thor]:** “The Sceptre must be here. Strucker couldn’t mount this defence without it. At long last.”

Loki leaned back in his seat with a sigh. This was it.

“You’re gonna watch it?”, he asked James quietly, who nodded and Loki stepped aside for the moment, making the call that would hopefully get the Sceptre as far away from them as possible.

“Prince Loki.” T’Chaka smiled into the camera. They greeted each other with crossing their arms in front of their bodies.

“King T’Chaka. We might need Wakanda’s help.”

“Wakanda’s help?”

“We’ve possibly located the Sceptre and are in the process of retrieving it.”

“Ah, yes. And you wish it nowhere near you.”

“Yes. We talked about this before on the team, the Sceptre cannot stay in New York. That has nothing to do with me or New York getting attacked so often, that is because its sibling resides in New York as well. You’ve seen the briefing package?”

“I have. A weapon like that here isn’t good either.”

“You have the people equipped enough to protect it. Asgard has the Tesseract. I’d have other options, you’re my first call.”

“Burying it in a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility wouldn’t be any better.”

“Exactly.”

“Alright.” T’Chaka nodded. “We’ll deploy a plane towards the tower as soon as we’re informed it’s in your hands.”

“Thank you, my King, we’ll be forever in your debt.” Loki bowed in front of the screen.

“As we were in yours before, Prince Loki.” T’Chaka bowed slightly as well, before he ended the call.

“J.A.R.V.I.S. make sure to inform King T’Chaka as soon as we got the Sceptre secured.”

“Yes, Master Stark.”

Loki walked back into the other room, activating his comm again.

 **[Snowflake]:** “Good news, I got a place where we can put the Sceptre.”

 **[Iron Man]:** “Shuri can play around with it?”

 **[Snowflake]:** “I’m pretty sure, she wouldn’t _play_ around with it, we all know this is no toy.”

 **[J.A.R.V.I.S.]:** “It is getting very obvious that the civilians do not like the Avengers.”

 **[Iron Man]:** “What, how?”

 **[J.A.R.V.I.S.]:** “The Iron Legion is taking hits, Sir.”

 **[Iron Man]:** “They got weapons?”

Loki and James focused on the footage of the Iron Legion.

 **[White Wolf]:** “More like biological weapons. Food and the likes.”

 **[Iron Man]:** “That’s what we get for trying to protect them. Yay us.”

 **[Snowflake]:** “Not all people can be fans of the Avengers, now focus.”

It went quiet again, until an unfamiliar face suddenly showed up. “You did not see that coming?”, the white-haired boy told Clint, before seemingly disappearing.

“Shit”, Loki whispered quietly.

“Language”, James told him with a smirk and bumped his hips at him.

A few second later, something hit Steve, making him do a flip.

 **[Captain America]:** “We have an enhanced in the field.”

 **[Black Widow]:** “Clint’s hit.”

James’ and Loki’s eyes switched to her view; the two agents were taking fire from a bunker with energy weapons.

 **[Black Widow]:** “Somebody wanna deal with that bunker?”

Almost immediately Hulk was there, ploughing through the bunker.

 **[Black Widow]:** “Thank you.”

 **[Snowflake]:** “Should I get him?”

 **[War Machine]:** “How bad is it?”

 **[Black Widow]:** “Pretty bad.”

 **[War Machine]:** “Then go and get him.”

Loki put his goggles in place and teleported on the field, grabbing Clint and nodding shortly to Nat, before teleporting back with him. He deposited him in the med bay, pulling his goggles up again and Doctor Cho immediately came running. Clint groaned and was only half conscious, clinging to Loki’s hand.

“Alright, J, inform me, if I’m needed.”

“Very well, Master Stark.”

“Clint, listen to me, you’re at the tower, you’re safe. I’m gonna take off your weaponry and armour and leave you in the capable hands of Doctor Cho, are you with me?”

“Yeah, yeah”, Clint slurred, “With you.”

“Till the end of the line?”, Loki asked, smirking.

That made Clint chuckle and Loki began to take off the quiver and then his upper armour, so Doctor Cho could get to the wound.

“I’ll get you some different clothes.”

“But the battle isn’t done”, Clint groaned, “Have to prove myself.”

“It’s done for you, today, you’re no use to us dead.”

“If it helps your conscience, Agent Barton, the battle seems to have concluded moments ago and they are wrapping things up.”

“The Sceptre?”, Loki asked, before stepping away and returning to James’ side.

“Has not been found yet, Master Stark”, J.A.R.V.I.S. informed them, as Loki and James watched Sam and Steve confront Strucker. “Sir _has_ found a secret door though.”

J.A.R.V.I.S. let a feed light up and Loki could see the entrance in a wall. A moment later they were distracted though, when Steve and Sam were pushed down the stairs, with Steve getting up a moment faster than Sam.

 **[Captain America]:** “We have a second enhanced, female, recommend ‘not engage’.”

 **[War Machine]:** “Recommendation accepted, not engage.”

Steve defeated Strucker easily after that, not taking chances and got him locked up.

 **[Captain America]:** “We got Strucker.”

 **[Tony Stark]:** “Yeah, I got… something bigger.”

“Where _is_ Tony?”, Loki asked.

“He has gone down the secret path”, J.A.R.V.I.S. informed him.

“Without weapons or cameras”, Loki concluded with an eye-roll.

 **[Snowflake]:** “We got two enhanced in the field and Tony’s out of the suit, recommend someone at his position. We don’t have eyes.”

 **[War Machine]:** “Recommendation accepted, Thor, you’re with me, let’s find him before he goes missing, _again_.”

 **[Snowflake]:** “I could teleport there.”

 **[War Machine]:** “We don’t know where the Sceptre is yet, unless Tony is getting hurt, do not engage.”

 **[Snowflake]:** “Yes, Colonel.”

Loki started pacing the room, until James slowly put a hand on Loki’s shoulder.

“It’ll be fine.”

 **[Tony Stark]:** “I got eyes on the prize.”

A moment later, Loki felt something piercing his mind. Grunting in pain, Loki pushed the goggles into place.

“You jinxed it.” Swiftly he focused on Tony’s bracelet and teleported through.

 **[White Wolf]:** “Snowflake’s in field, something’s going on.”

The first thing Loki saw was Tony in visible distress, as he stared at the Sceptre in front of him. Behind him A woman in red. Loki growled at her. ‘Do not engage’, Rhodey had said and Loki smirked at her, before pressing a hand around the neck of his husband, making him sack against Loki’s body.

 **[Snowflake]:** “I got eyes on our second enhanced.”

 **[War Machine]:** “Do _not_ engage.”

 **[Snowflake]:** “Copy. On defence.”

He smirked at the girl. “Hi there”, he told her.

She grinned wildly. “You do not know, do you?”

“Don’t know what?”

“What he fears most.”

The boy with the silver hair arrived next to her and Loki put a force field around Tony, the Sceptre and himself.

 **[Snowflake]:** “Eyes on the first enhanced as well.”

“You’re just gonna let them take it?”, the boy hissed to the girl.

“He’s the man who wielded it before”, she said and then struck out her hand at Loki, a confused look coming onto her face when Loki just pushed her spell away.

Carefully Loki sat Tony on the ground and stepped out of the invisible barrier.

“You’re a child”, Loki mocked. “You cannot do to me, what you did to mine.”

He raised his hands and the boy acted fast, grabbing the girl and taking her away.

“Protective”, Loki noted, “That’s a good skill.”

Then he saw Rhodey and Thor enter.

“You just missed the show.”

“Let’s pack it up and leave”, Rhodey told him and Thor held up the case they’d made for the Sceptre.

Loki looked up at the Leviathan, a shudder running through him.

“J.A.R.V.I.S.”, Rhodey added, “I want all of this down here documented, when you’re done up there, and get Hill for clean-up.”

“Will do.”

“May I take him with me?”

“Yeah, go ahead, Trip can fly us, we’ll meet you back at the tower.”

Loki took Tony and teleported them back into their rooms at the tower. That he could not feel Tony’s distress was worrying. The bond did not seem broken, but it did seem numb. Swiftly, he switched into more comfortable clothes, before pulling his still unconscious husband into his lap, as he sat down onto the bed. Slowly he coaxed him awake and Tony immediately melted into his embrace.

“What did she show you?”, Loki asked quietly.

“Who?”

“The enhanced, she entered your mind.”

“That kinda makes sense”, Tony said and then pressed his hands to his temples, before looking at him. “You look worried, but I can’t feel it, what’s going on?”

“I think she’s responsible for that as well. What did she show you?”

“All of you dead, the kids too and you leading the Chitauri back to Earth.”

Loki shuddered, broken. “I would never…”

“I know, babe, I know.” Tony pressed a kiss to Loki’s cheek. “I know.”

Loki held him tight.

“Where’s the Sceptre?”, Tony then asked.

“Why?”

“I need it.”

Loki frowned at him.

“To protect the world.”

“No”, Loki decided.

“Please, I need it, J.A.R.V.I.S., where…”

“J.A.R.V.I.S., do not give Tony access to that information”, Loki pushed in and flipped them, straddling his husband.

“Yes, Master Stark.”

“Darling, may I see what she did to you?”

“No, I need to…”

A tear left Loki’s eye, as he pressed his hand onto Tony’s head and forced himself in. He hated doing this, using force, but this was needed. There they were. She’d created urges with the manipulation on his mind. Quickly Loki locked those down and forced Tony back to sleep. Crying Loki teleported away, into his office.

“Lock him in, please, for the time being”, Loki begged J.A.R.V.I.S., before pulling himself onto his feet and grabbing a nearby comm.

 **[Loki Stark]:** “Tony’s mind got manipulated. He wants the Sceptre.”

 **[James Rhodes]:** “Is he alright?”

 **[Loki Stark]:** “Hopefully. I… I had to force myself into his mind, he did not give me access, I want to throw up.”

 **[James Barnes]:** “Want me to come up?”

 **[Loki Stark]:** “Can you stay at Tony’s door? I’m in my office… I need some time.”

 **[James Barnes]:** “On my way, your husband’s gonna be protected, even from himself.”

 **[Loki Stark]:** “I just broke into his head; how can I ever make that right again?”

* * *

“Where’s Loki?”, Tony shouted, struggling against James’ hold.

“Tony, calm down.”

“No, I want to see my husband. How can I calm down, when you won’t let me see my husband?!”

“J.A.R.V.I.S. ask Loki if Tony may have live video footage of him, control to him.”

A few moments later, a surveillance video of Loki showed up and Tony struggled less, staring at Loki. The man was curled inside his office, where a lot of things were destroyed and multiple things were frozen over, Loki had stripped to his underwear and was in his Frost Giant form, shivering and very obviously crying what seemed to be frozen tears.

“Shit”, James breathed.

“Why can’t I feel him?”, Tony asked again.

“It appears this is a side-effect of what Miss Maximoff did to you, Sir.”

“Miss who?”

“One of the enhanced individuals the Avengers encountered today in the field.”

J.A.R.V.I.S. showed them a picture of Wanda Maximoff, the second enhanced and a file on her and her brother, Pietro Maximoff, the first enhanced.

“I am briefing the rest of the Avengers, save Loki, on the twins as well. It seems they were orphaned at ten years when a shell collapsed their apartment building. Upon looking closer, it appears that those were weapons of Stark Industries.”

“Obie”, Tony breathed and fell to his knees.

“That would be correct”, confirmed J.A.R.V.I.S.

“They don’t hate the Avengers, they hate me. They hate S.I.”

“And Americans, particularly S.H.I.E.L.D., as HYDRA disguised themselves as them”, J.A.R.V.I.S. informed him.

“What are we doing to make up for our mistakes?”

“We have not done anything I’m afraid, Sir.”

“And they won’t like it, if we showed up there. Look for local charities, that could need a helping hand and make anonymous donations that seem appropriate enough, maybe double what they already got and if that isn’t enough… you know how much we can lose, J.”

“Will do, Sir.”

“I need to go to him”, Tony begged James, pointing at the video of Loki.

“I can’t let you” James told him.

“Why? Do you think I’ll hurt him? I promised, never again. I need to repair the bridge, before it crumbles.”

James growled quietly and looked back to the video, where Loki looked up and then stood up, putting on his mission armour. He walked slowly and spoke, but Tony and James couldn’t hear. Next thing they know, the feed cuts out.

“J, what’s happening?”, Tony wanted to know.

“I am unable to tell you at the moment, Sir.”

“Why?!”, Tony screeched and James grabbed him, throwing him over his shoulder and carrying him back into his bedroom, before he stood in front of the door again.

* * *

Loki was fiddling with hands, frozen tear streaks on his face, as he greeted the Wakandans that had arrived on the roof. T’Challa looked struck, when he laid his eyes on Loki, but before he could say anything, his sister stopped him.

“The King could not make it”, she explained.

“I understand”, Loki told her. “Follow me, please.”

“Is it here?”, Shuri asked excited, as they walked inside.

“The team is still on their way back, the Quinjet is a little slower than your plane.”

Shuri giggled at that and a short smile came upon Loki’s face.

“We did find some other information though, that could interest Wakanda”, Loki told them and showed them into the conference room. “If you please, J.A.R.V.I.S.?”

“Certainly, Prince Loki and what great pleasure it is to see you again, Princess Shuri. Hello, Prince T’Challa.”

“Hi, J”, Shuri answered with a grin, before she and her brother opened a file.

“What is this?”, T’Challa asked.

“We found out that Wolfgang von Strucker had been in contact with Ulysses Klaue, who apparently is in possession of stolen vibranium, if I’m correct?”

“It is good that Baba is not here for this”, Shuri whispered.

“He has escaped our attempts at capture many times before”, T’Challa explained.

“We know where he is.”

“You do?”, T’Challa asked, surprised.

“Actually, _I_ do”, J.A.R.V.I.S. told him.

“So you are willing to offer the Sceptre _and_ stolen vibranium along with the thief?”, T’Challa questioned.

“The Sceptre is not an offer, the Sceptre is a ‘please keep it away from us and bury it deep where no technology can ever reach it’ and I’m not _offering_ you stolen vibranium with the thief, I’m offering you the _location_ of said thief and with the possibly of the vibranium being there.”

T’Challa frowned again and Loki said down on the table, crossing his arms. “Listen. The Sceptre, the Mind Stone, it is dangerous. Right now, it is even more dangerous here, while it’s not here yet. The Mind Stone does have a mind of its own, but it’s influenced by its surroundings, as far as I can tell. You all know J.A.R.V.I.S., the Mind Stone could rival it, but unlike J.A.R.V.I.S. it does not have restrictions. Once activated it could do the most horrible things anyone can come up with. And with whatever it can get access to, however the means, that could lead to an extinction level event.”

“So it _does_ have a mind of its own?”, Shuri asked, leaning against the wall, opposite of Loki and T’Challa walked to the side, thinking.

“I’d say so. It can be controlled, but if there’s nothing there to control it…”

“Boom”, she says, making an explosion effect with her hands.

“Exactly.”

“But what if you would built it a body and gave it an existing mind, or restrictions, like, let’s say, J.A.R.V.I.S., and then put the Stone in there?”

“You’d have a person walking around with the Mind Stone on its body, which a being in this Universe is after and will take.”

“But could the person, the Android, study the Mind Stone, help us in the future, with answers?”

Loki bit his lip, thinking. “It’s risky.”

“Of course, we got to work out all the kinks before we could put the Stone in there.”

“It could _destroy_ the world”, T’Challa reminded her. “And with that from Wakanda…”

“I cannot build a functioning body, not with a brain that would work”, Shuri amended, “But your Doctor Cho could. And with Tony’s help…”

“Tony’s compromised”, Loki interrupted her, before explaining himself after a groan: “He can’t work on the Mind Stone. He got hit in Sokovia by a wannabe witch and she manipulated his mind. He wants the Sceptre, she made him want to do something with it and I fear that it will go mighty wrong.”

“So we would just make hypothetical plans, me and Doctor Cho, if she wants to. And you take care of that witch and get rid of whatever she did to Tony, before we add him.”

“I can’t just decide it. I can’t be _the one_ to decide it.”

Shuri nodded slowly and T’Challa nodded as well. “We will take the Sceptre to Wakanda, as soon as it arrives and bury it in a deep whole with no technology near it. Only after that, after you have dealt with your problems, we will bring the idea to the table again”, T’Challa spoke.

“Thank you”, Loki breathed and then put his head into his hands again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Every time I write something that has to be very close to a movie, I always notice how I kinda changed the characters. I'm just hoping that A) they do not develop two distinct personalities and B) it still works out.
> 
> Side-note: writing accents is damn hard


	4. Consequences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are two warnings in the end-notes, they go for ~80 percent of the chapter, so if you don't like that kind of think you can check what it concerns and where you can "safely" read again. This chapter is one of the reasons the work is ranked "Explicit" in my book.

By the time the team arrived, Loki was locked into his fight or flight response. Clint and Steve growled simultaneously when they saw T’Challa and the man actually flinched.

“So you want Wakanda to take it”, Rhodey stated and Thor seemed similarly displeased by the fact.

“Yes, they can protect it if it should get looked for.”

“If they wouldd actually find Wakanda”, T’Challa commented.

“It is dangerous”, Thor said and looked to Shuri, “Nothing for little kids.”

“Do you see any kids around?”, she asked back and Thor grinned happily.

“I like her”, he stated, “She can have it.”

She smirked and then stated: “Loki is still my favourite prince.”

“Hey!”, T’Challa protested.

“Shut it, Brother. Now, we do have some other things to discuss, concerning the Mind Stone. I’d recommend taking this to your conference room again, but you all look like shit and smell worse than the goats at home, so we will probably discuss it in a few days. Whether that is in person or over video call is your call.”

Rhodey frowned but then told her: “If video call would suffice, I think we’re going with that one, easier for us all.”

“Great.” She pointed to the case Thor was holding and he handed it over.

“Bury it deep.”

“We will”, she answered and they walked to the elevator, the Avengers following them.

Before they departed, even James arrived to tell them goodbye. They waited for around half a minute after the plane had departed and would have gone inside, if James hadn’t put his hand on Loki’s shoulder.

“Don’t”, he growled and Loki whimpered.

“What’s going on?”, Clint wanted to know.

“He planned to run. I know that face, I know even the micro expressions on it.”

“Brother, is this true?”, Thor asked and in response, Loki’s body started to shake with sobs, before he fell to his knees, forcing James to step closer, so he could keep his hand on Loki’s body, moving it into Loki’s hair and gripping just tight enough, that Loki could feel it.

“Punish me”, he whispered.

Everyone around them froze and James cursed silently. “Get me chains for enhanced and a black-out blindfold.”

“What?!”, Rhodey asked upset.

“Now, please. Before he decides that he has to punish himself. Make no mistake, he can still escape me.”

“Shit”, Sam cursed and he and Nat ran off.

“Loki. You will get punished for what you did, you hear me?”

“Please”, Loki breathed.

“Shut up. You only answer when spoken to and you address us properly, do you understand?”

“Yes, Sergeant.”

“Good.” James put his other hand on Loki’s shoulder and began to massage Loki’s head with the first. “All of you smell horrible, go take a shower and prepare your reports for Trip.”

“Sure thing”, Rhodey told him and a few moments later most of them left, except for Clint.

“Already took my shower and report is ready.”

“Good. You alright with this?”, James asked him.

“Not completely fine, but it’s better than him running.”

“Can you go check on Tony for me?”

“What’s with him?”

“He’s locked inside his apartment. Loki, can he be informed now?”

“The Sceptre is out of his grasp, Sergeant, he can know now, but I wish…”

“You can’t have wishes now, Loki.”

“Yes, Sergeant.”

“Can he be set free?”

“Yes, Sergeant.”

“J.A.R.V.I.S. did you get the command?”, James asked the A.I.

“Already accepted, better be on your way, Agent Barton.”

“Shit”, Clint cursed and ran off.

“I’m going to take care of you, Loki. Do you trust that?”

“Yes, Sergeant.”

James massaged his head a while longer, before Sam and Nat joined them again. While Sam stared for a moment, Nat quickly got to work, grabbing Loki’s arms, pushing them behind his back and locking them in the cuffs, before binding the blindfold over his eyes, just tight enough it would not move.

“The others are showering and preparing their reports”, he told them and they nodded towards him, before James lifted Loki and put him over his shoulder.

* * *

“So, what the fuck is going on?”, Rhodey wanted to know.

They were standing on the other side of the glass. In the other room, Loki was chained to the ground, crying quietly.

“You heard what he did?”, James asked.

“Yeah, but surely Tony understands”, Thor argued.

“And he does.”

Bruce thought for a moment and then informed the others: “Loki doesn’t like breaking into someone’s mind, doesn’t like entering with permission. He once told us, over two years ago, when he was still blind and pregnant with Runa.”

“So, that’s his problem with this situation”, Steve commented.

“We’ll see”, James said and looked to Rhodey. “I’d like to get Clint and Tony in here, while I ask Loki what he thinks he did wrong and should be punished for. You gotta find a solution, find a punishment fair enough for his crime.”

Rhodey nodded, before James and Nat locked eyes for a moment and she nodded sharply as well. She’d find a good punishment all of them could live with.

* * *

“Loki.”

Loki’s head perked up and he straightened, trying to get his breathing under control.

“Can you tell me your offence?”

“Yes, Sergeant.”

“Then do.”

Loki shivered a little and gulped. “I did not wait for orders, I forced Tony…”

“What’s the proper address?”, James interrupted.

“Mister Stark?”, Loki asked, confused for a moment.

“No. You will call him your husband.”

“Yes, Sergeant.”

“Continue.”

“I forced my husband unconscious, not asking for permission to do so. I…”

“Who would have to give you that permission?”

“The Colonel.”

“Alright, continue.”

“I forced myself into my husband’s head after asking for his permission and not receiving it and I forced him to sleep afterwards.”

“Why?”

“So I could escape him, Sergeant.”

“But you did not run from the tower.”

“I did not, Sergeant.”

“Why?”

“The mission was not concluded yet.”

“Alright. I see three offences. Your first offence was forcing Tony unconscious without asking the team leader for permission to do so. Your second offence was forcing yourself into Tony’s head without any permission, your last offence was making him sleep and leaving his side. How would you rank these offences, which one is the greatest offence and which one is the slightest?”

“The greatest would be forcing myself into my husband’s head, Sergeant, the slightest would be making my husband sleep and leaving him.”

“I would sort those differently.”

Loki frowned at that.

“You got the greatest offence right, but as his husband you must not leave him, especially after something such dramatic. Rhodey will decide your punishment for your slightest offence, as it was him that you did not ask permission of. What did you do in Tony’s head?”

“I found the nightmare the second enhanced created and locked it into a clear box.”

“Why?”

“Because it was harming my husband’s mental state.”

“Then why not rip it from his mind?”

“This would be too great of an attack; I did not wish to attack my husband.”

“Why did you have to lock it up, it is not clear how it was harming Tony’s mental state.”

“The second enhanced put urges to it, making him urge to use the Sceptre for something. We had already decided before the Sceptre would not stay here and I feared that the continued urge would make my husband try to force me or others to tell him where it is.”

“Could this kill Tony?”

“I believe my husband would threaten his own life for it, so, yes, Sergeant.”

“Are these urges locked up as well?”

“Yes, Sergeant.”

“So they still exist?”

“Yes, Sergeant.”

“Explain how that could be bad.”

“What?”

“How could that be bad for Tony, Loki?”

Loki thought for a moment. “Someone else could get into my husband’s head and unlock the box.”

“Correct, and he would have the urges again, wouldn’t he?”

“Yes, Sergeant.”

“Does he still have access to the nightmare?”

“Yes, Sergeant. My husband should be able to see the nightmare.”

“Could you remove the urges without removing the nightmare?”

“Technically, yes, Sergeant.”

“Technically?”

“I do not wish to enter my husband’s mind again.”

“That will be up to him, Loki. Rhodey, do you have your punishment?”

A door opened and closed.

“Loki”, Rhodey addressed the constrained trickster.

“Colonel.”

“What is your punishment for Loki, Rhodey?”

“Until the remembrance event, come next Monday, I want your complete and utter devotion. You will do all I ask of you. If you think it wrong or bad, you will tell me so, but if I do not change my mind, you will perform what I ask anyway, understood?”

“Yes, Colonel.”

“Do you accept this as proper punishment, Loki?”, James asked him.

“Yes, Sergeant.”

“Good. You can go again, Rhodey.”

The door opened and closed again and a soft hand curled itself into Loki’s hair.

“You’re doing good, Loki. Once he’s ready, I need Tony in here and whoever will give the third punishment.”

A straw poked at Loki’s lips.

“Drink”, James ordered and Loki did so, juice flooding his mouth and then flowing down his throat as he swallowed.

Meanwhile the door opened and closed again and Loki shuddered a little. James took the drink away and then stepped behind Loki, keeping his hand in Loki’s hair, as Loki swallowed the last of the juice.

“Lokes”, Tony’s voice sounded and Loki shook a little.

“Husband”, he answered.

“No, that’s too weird, address me differently, sorry James, that won’t do for me.”

“T-Tony?”, Loki tried again.

“Nope.”

“Anthony?”

“Wrong direction, sweetheart.”

Loki frowned and then spoke quietly: “Love?”

“That’ll do.”

“What’s your punishment for Loki, Tony?”

“Well, he basically took the words right out of my mouth. Loki you’ll enter my mind again, open that box and destroy the urges, but keeping the nightmare.”

Loki shuddered. “Y-Yes, love.”

“Do you accept the punishment, Loki?”

“Yes, Sergeant.”

“And the second punishment, Tony?”

“Oh right. Because you left my sorry ass. You will stay in our apartment here at the tower until we’ve fixed the bond. However long that might take.”

“Yes, love.”

“And let me add, you’re not forced to do anything in that apartment for the record, so for the time being, Rhodey can’t get in there and can’t call into it either.”

Loki stayed silent and James asked: “Do you accept the punishment?”

“Yes, Sergeant.”

“Do you accept all punishments as proper for the offences?”

“Yes, Sergeant.”

“Alright, so once they’re done, I don’t want to hear you complaining about it again. Even if Tony has to keep you in that apartment for long over the remembrance event and Rhodey can’t ever give you a command.”

“Yes, Sergeant.”

“You will take care of the greatest punishment now”, James decided and unlocked Loki’s chains, so that the trickster could move freely again.

Tony sat down in front of Loki, his knees pressing against the other one’s knees.

“You’re not taking the blindfold off for the moment, sweetheart.”

“Yes, love.”

“Get started then. They’re all watching.”

James’ hand disappeared and with shaking hands, Loki felt up Tony’s body, before reaching his head and laying one hand in his neck for support, before pressing his other hand on Tony’s forehead.

Opening the chest in Tony’s head was easy and he could feel Tony shake under him. “Unlocked”, Loki whispered and then dove into the nightmare.

It was worse than Tony had said. Loki saw himself torturing and eventually killing all of the Avengers as well as their sons. Nightmare-Loki left their daughters to die, before kneeling in front of Nightmare-Thanos, offering his utter devotion to the Titan. Nightmare-Thanos pulled Nightmare-Loki up and into a messy kiss, praising him and telling him that he did exactly what he wanted, though it was a shame for their dead child. Nightmare-Loki then proceeded to ride Nightmare-Thanos in front of the still chained up Nightmare-Tony, quickly looking very pregnant again, before they led the Chitauri towards Earth, leaving Nightmare-Tony to die in the Void.

A sob escaped Loki, when he’d gotten rid of the urges and he sacked against the heavily breathing Tony, who quickly wrapped his arms around Loki.

“It’s gone”, Tony promised and pulled Loki closer, pressing a kiss to his temple, before lifting Loki, as he got up. “J, get us the elevator and inform the Avengers if we need food.”

“Will do, Sir.”

Tony pressed Loki close to his body and walked away with him, other people, or possibly J.A.R.V.I.S. opening doors for them.

Tony laid Loki on their bed, before taking off the blindfold. Loki was still shaking and Tony ran a comforting hand through Loki’s hair.

“It’s alright. You’re safe.”

“What you saw…”

“It’s fine. That would never happen. You would never let that happen. And even if it did, I’d know you had a plan, because you’d never stand by his side. It would only appear like that.”

“I’m so…”

“Sorry? I think we got that. Now. You look exhausted, so can I pamper you?”

“But this is supposed to be punishment.”

“And you’re following all rules. Please.”

Loki nodded slowly and Tony immediately began pulling off his boots, before walking away.

“Strip as much as you want”, Tony called, as he entered the bathroom.

Loki removed most of his clothing, before sitting back onto the bed in a pair of sweatpants and a tee taken from Tony’s wardrobe.

“Living room when you’re done”, Tony shouted again and Loki walked there, seeing Tony with a basin full of water at the foot of the couch. “Come, sit”, Tony urged him with a smile and Loki slowly did so.

Tony lifted Loki’s naked feet into the basin and washed them carefully.

“I still love you”, Tony said quietly. “If I’d been in my right mind, I’d have given you permission to enter my mind, but I was not. She wanted me to use the Sceptre and I don’t think that would have turned out well.”

“What did you want to do?”

“Bruce and I had this idea, a long time ago, well, more my idea and HYDRA kinda bastardised it, so it’s probably something to scrap. A suit of armour around the world. An Artificial Intelligence to protect the world. It was called Ultron. It was to protect ourselves from aliens, coming to Earth with plans to destroy or harm it. In the end it should have replaced the Avengers.”

“Sounds cold.”

“Yeah. And I would have rushed it.”

“That is never good.”

“Especially not with something meant to protect us.”

“Shuri contemplated giving it a body and brain, so it could study the Mind Stone.”

“Really?”, Tony asked, scrubbing Loki’s feet.

“Yes. It would need a controlling entity first, she said, something like J.A.R.V.I.S.”

“I got other A.I.s.”

“But could they control something like that? J.A.R.V.I.S. is old, experienced.”

“True. What do the Avengers say?”

“We’re gonna discuss it with them soon.”

“How are we going to get a body?”

Loki laughed. “That sounds like you’re planning murder. Shuri suggested Doctor Cho. She can rebuild tissue, maybe she could build an entire body.”

“Good idea.”

“But we’re not making a suit around the world. We’re making _one_ Android.”

“Yeah got that.” Tony dried Loki’s feet and then pushed the basin aside and held up a couple bottles of nail polish. “Gold or green?”

“Green please, dear”, Loki answered with a smile.

“So one Android”, Tony murmured, as he shook the nail polish. “Did you think about the vulnerability?”

“Basically creating life that would be destroyed because one angry Titan wants that Stone? Yes, we did.”

“Come up with solutions yet?”

“No, not yet. I bet Shuri’s working on that too, so she got something to present the Avengers.”

“But they’re gonna bury the Sceptre for now, right?”

“At the moment, yes. I told her not to poke at it.”

“She’s probably going to poke at it, at least a little bit.”

“I think she’ll restrain herself enough till she presents the idea to the Avengers and then she’ll poke at it.”

Tony chuckled and then began painting Loki’s nails quietly.

“So, are we gonna talk about the elephant in the room?”, Loki asked finally.

“It’s right behind me, isn’t it”, Tony whispered dramatically.

Loki smirked at that. “How are we going to take care of the bond?”

“Well, we kinda don’t know what’s wrong with it yet”, Tony stated, “You can obviously still hear, so it’s not strained. Is it gone?”

“I don’t believe so”, Loki answered.

“Spend some time near each other and if that doesn’t work, maybe put a second bond on it?”, Tony questioned.

“That would drain me mostly.”

“Then let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Hey, I know what to do, to check if we still got a bond. Obviously the mind thing isn’t working, because you would have said something till now and we can’t feel each other’s feelings, but there’s still one more factor.”

“You want to get hurt?”, Loki questioned and Tony breathed on Loki’s nails for a moment.

“Sure thing honey. Obviously I can’t tell you what’s going to happen, because then you could fake it and we don’t actually want that.”

Loki sighed. “That’s a bad idea.”

“I’ll ask the team. It’ll be fine.”

“Tony, I don’t want you hurt.”

“And I won’t _really_ get hurt. The team won’t kill me. It might hurt for a bit, but then we know. It’s better to know than not to know.”

Loki sighed again and Tony painted the nails on Loki’s other foot. After those were all done and dried, he finally gave in.

“Fine. But if it doesn’t heal before I’m out of here, I’m getting to beat up the person that did it… In the boxing ring”, he added as an after-thought.

“Sure thing, I’ll tell them.” Tony kissed Loki’s cheek and then, to prolong it longer, decided to paint the nails on Loki’s hand as well. “One day, we’ll have to get someone to make you a professional manicure and pedicure. This looks good on you.”

Loki blushed at that. “Only if you get one as well.”

“Like hot-rod-red, yeah, that would be cool. Maybe we can get the whole team in on it, would be fun bonding experience.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING:  
> \- small dom/sub scene (non-sexual), kneeling, bondage, and sensory deprivation; no spanking or anything similar; starts pretty early on after the Wakandans fly away; ends when Tony takes him back to their room, it's at the end of a paragraph (so you can start at the last paragraph if you want to skip it all)  
> \- dream-sequence: a scene where the partner is cheating on them with the willing; the dream-sequence is within the dom/sub scene
> 
> I'm getting frustrated with the days not passing as fast as I had thought when I first started posting (is anyone else getting frustrated at the snail's pace?)


	5. Team or Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still... somehow... the same... week

Rhodey stifled a yawn as he walked on stage with Steve and Hill in tow for the press briefing.

“Alright. I bet you’re all wondering why you’re not getting your regular Avengers briefing by Loki. We’ll address that later, let’s first get into the mission. Steve?”

Steve dramatically opened the file. “The Avengers got to the HYDRA base in Sokovia early on the 28th, they then proceeded to fight themselves through the forces and Iron Man encountered a force field around the base. Upon destroying the force field the Avengers were able to breach the facility, capture multiple HYDRA members, including one Wolfgang von Strucker, who was then turned over to N.A.T.O., in the facility the Avengers found and retrieved multiple files, and the Sceptre used by Loki in the attack on New York three years ago.”

People started shouting, but quickly quieted, when Steve gave them a piercing glare. “The Avengers also encountered two enhanced individuals, who could not be apprehended. In the HYDRA base a skeleton of a Leviathan could also be found, that is currently, along with the rest of the work, getting retrieved by S.H.I.E.L.D. and possibly handed over to the D.O.D.C. We had two injured on our side. Hawkeye was hit with an energy weapon, upon which Snowflake was brought in to teleport him directly into our medical facility and Iron Man was engaged by the second enhanced, who entered his mind, creating a nightmare that was laced with an urge to act against his usual wishes. This was noticed by Snowflake and Iron Man was retrieved and brought back to the tower, after which he was treated by Snowflake. The same enhanced also attacked the Falcon and me, but we got away with a few bruises.”

Steve took a deep breath, closed the file and Rhodey took over for this part: “Now, to address why Loki isn’t here. It was very clear Tony was not himself at the point and Loki had to enter his husband’s mind to suppress the urges the second enhanced left behind. This was done after Tony explicitly expressed that Loki should not enter his mind. After that, Loki beat himself up, not literally, over having done so. In the end, he requested to get punished for him acting out of line. He listed three offences and the Avengers are at the moment aware and taking care of his _punishment_. It is neither physical nor mental punishment and was decided on by the group, as we believed that if we were not to enact any punishment, Loki would take punishment on himself that _would_ include physical or mental punishment.”

Steve leaned back slightly in his chair, while Rhodey relaxed in his and they waited for the first question.

“What’s Loki’s punishment?”

“That is private”, Rhodey commented.

“Where is the Sceptre?”

“That is classified”, Steve answered with a smirk, “But I can tell you that Loki requested it to be nowhere within his reach.”

“Is this to stop himself from using it?”

This question Hill answered. “No. Loki fears the power of the Sceptre. Around two years ago, my predecessor, Loki and I talked and we spoke of the Sceptre at that point and already then Loki expressed his dislike for the weapon. It was used to invade his mind and I expect Agent Barton to have a similar opinion towards it.”

“Who are the enhanced individuals?”

“That is at the moment classified as well”, Steve told the reporter, “We are not sure yet if they acted in self-defence, protecting their country. If we encounter them again and they get hostile towards us this might get declassified.”

“What are their powers?”

Hill answered that one: “The first enhanced got increased metabolism and improved thermal homeostasis. The second enhanced can use neural electric interfacing, telekinesis, mental manipulation.”

* * *

“You look better”, James commented, as he brought Loki food. “Clint said, he wants pizza once you finally get out.”

Loki grabbed the bowl of pasta and dug in quickly, as James sat down on the other side of the table.

“The nails look good. But I see a blatant lack of sex around the apartment”, James told him and Loki flushed at that. “Really, I thought you two would fuck like bunnies once we leave you to yourselves. Isn’t that one way to fix the bond?”

“We don’t know if the bond’s even still there”, Loki told him.

“Oh right. Tony’s going around asking people to hit him and when they ask what the catch is, they all leave again.”

Loki breathed gratefully at that. At least they didn’t know it wasn’t there anymore. He ate the pasta and then joined James on the couch where he was watching the press briefing.

“That is private”, Rhodey said on the television and suddenly Loki started choking.

James immediately grabbed him. “J.A.R.V.I.S., tell me that’s happening to Tony and if, then make them stop it, immediately.”

“I have told Sir and Mister Odinson to stop the choking of Sir, as Master Stark is getting choked as well.”

A moment later, Loki could breathe again. “Darn my brother.”

James chuckled a little. “It’s good then, that Tony asked me to look after you until he’d found him.”

“Why?”

“Well Thor would easily do that, he’s the only one that isn’t really afraid of battling you, everyone else got at least a little thought about how they don’t want you totally bashing them around.”

A few moments later Thor and Tony entered the apartment with bright smiles on their faces and Loki jumped at Thor, making the other crash to the floor, before bellowing with laughter and pulling Loki to his chest. A few moments later, Loki’s anger left him and he started weeping against his brother’s chest. Thor ran a careful hand down Loki’s back and hushed him softly.

“I’m fine”, Tony spoke quietly at their side.

“He is, Brother, I only pressed enough to make him choke a little, I would have let him go a few seconds later anyway.”

“It’s cruel”, Loki murmured.

“Okay, babe, we know the bond’s still there, so…”

“Bed”, Loki growled.

“Oh shit”, James spoke as Tony lifted Loki from Thor. “We better get out of here, before they get into it, I might be into guys, but I really don’t want to see other people having sex in front of me, let’s go, Thor.”

Chuckling, Tony carried Loki to the bed and then dropped to his knees between Loki’s spread legs. “I’m thinking, you fill me, I fill you and we see where this takes us?”

Loki hummed. “Gladly, my love. Just make sure to use the correct hole, we can’t get me pregnant again until we’ve defeated the Titan.”

“Will do, sweetheart.”

Loki almost purred when Tony cuddled close again and Tony chuckled quietly.

‘Did I satisfy you?’

‘ _You did’_ , Loki answered in his head with a smirk and Tony pressed his lips to Loki’s again.

“So, not such a huge issue after all”, he whispered and let happiness flood their bonded bodies.

“Second punishment done”, Loki whispered and held Tony close.

“Well, I could tell Rhodey to go overlook the building of the New Avengers facility.”

Loki chuckled. “Nah, Rhodey won’t make me do anything horrible”, Loki spoke.

“He’ll just probably make you train a lot more and domestic stuff.”

Loki hummed and ran a hand over Tony’s throat. Thankfully he wasn’t still hurting.

“Okay”, Loki called, “Let’s get up. J.A.R.V.I.S., tell the team it’s time to order pizzas.”

Tony groaned a little and then got up.

Around half an hour later, Tony and Loki got downstairs in sweatpants and with loose shirts.

“That looks more like it”, James commented and Loki shoved him a little.

“Zip it”, he growled, before turning to the team. “Pizza?”

“Sure”, Rhodey said, “Can you get the plates?”

Loki’s eyes pierced Rhodey and then he turned around and went into the kitchen getting the supplies.

“Shit, sorry”, Rhodey mumbled as Loki placed the plates in front of him.

“At least you didn’t tell me to ‘go fuck myself’”, Loki told him with a too sweet smile.

Rhodey took a deep breath and nodded then.

“I should really give him something to do far away from you”, Tony told Loki loud enough, before taking the plates and setting the table.

“I need to learn my lesson”, Loki told him and opened the first pizza package. “Who wants champignons?”, he called before handing out the pieces and setting the half empty package aside and starting with the next one. When everyone was finally settled, Loki turned to Clint. “So what’re you doing this weekend?”

“Well, we’re kinda required to be at the whole remembrance event… again, but Nat and I’ll be home until that. I’ll be taking the Quin. Don’t do any missions till then.”

“So what’s the deal with you two”, Trip asked, pointing with his pizza and both other agents raised pointed eyebrows.

“He got me into S.H.I.E.L.D.”, Nat finally said.

“No, I know that, but are you like a couple, or…”

Nat laughed loudly and Clint snickered as well. “Far from it”, she then said.

“She’s basically his sister”, Loki explained and the two nodded at that.

“We got the family dynamics down the notch”, Clint told him.

“I’m the really cool aunt. Which is weird, considering I’m also the aunt of Loki’s kids and Loki is sometimes Clint’s kid, so…”

“Which would mean, Clint has kids”, Tony exclaimed and Clint just shrugged at that. “How do we not know about this?”

“Speak for yourself, darling”, Loki mumbled, before biting into his piece of ham pizza again.

“You know?!”

“I saw in his mind three years ago, of course I know, babe.”

“And I really have to be home soon”, Clint added.

“Oh yeah, before Laura’s pissed that she has to give birth alone”, Nat told him.

“She has a name _and_ is highly pregnant?!”, Tony screeched.

“Can you shut up?”, Clint asked.

“Why the fuck are you going on missions?! You almost died on the last one!”

“Because you need me.”

“You gotta go home and be with your girlfriend, Barton, even though I’m still confused how you even lost your virginity to someone.”

“Wife”, Nat, Clint and Loki said at the same time.

Tony stared at him with a gaping mouth. “You leave your _pregnant_ _ **wife**_ at home alone to go on missions with us?”

“Well, she has our two other kids with her, so she isn’t _really_ alone.”

“You leave your pregnant wife at home, having to deal with two _other_ kids you might have _also_ fathered, to go on missions with _us_?”

“That’s the job. And you go on missions all the time with having, what, six kids at home?”

“Three of those are adults and can take care of the other three. They are also in New York. Are your kids adults? Please don’t let them be adults, because that’ll make me question everything, especially how you still look so young.”

“They are five and nine years old, Tony.”

“Go home, Clint”, Tony told him, “take a few pizza boxes on the way, surprise your wife and kids and if you want, you can bring them to the remembrance event. I’m deciding, we’re making it private this year, so everyone, bring your extended family and close friends and get them the week free of any work, I’ll cover any and all costs.”

Clint laughed loudly at that and then grabbed Tony’s shoulder as he stood. “You’re alright, man.”

“I think that’s the highest praise I’ve ever gotten from you.”

“Don’t think I’ll ever repeat it.”

“Noted.”

Clint grabbed two almost empty boxes and he and Nat proceeded to stuff them with other pizza, before going off.

“He has kids”, Tony breathed.

“Yup”, Loki told him, “They’re really cute and totally love him.”

“He can’t…”

“ _Don’t_ finish that sentence”, Loki growled. “If he leaves the team that’s his choice. If he leaves for a mission, that’s his choice as well. You will _not_ make that choice for him.”

“But baby…”

“Don’t look at me like that, would you stop going on missions? Would you stop me going on missions?”

“No, but he got a kid on the way.”

“And his wife has one of the same bracelets that Gamora has, so even if Clint and I should be somewhere in space, I can grab him and Nat and we can go to her. We spoke about it, but it’s Clint who chooses to go on a missions. Nat will have his back wherever we go, whenever she can, but he’s very good at what he does.”

Loki sighed and continued: “Believe me, Nat and I both want Clint to retire, more than anything, but the most we’ve been able to convince him with, is, that once the next kid comes, he’ll go passive. Now that we’ve dealt with HYDRA, or at least cut down a lot of heads, James can take his spot as a sniper. He might not have trick arrows like Clint, but he’s as good as him when it comes to range and accuracy.”

James nodded. “I’d take his spot any day. One thing though, Steve can’t salute me, every time I take a shot, because that’s really fucking dumb and totally revealing my hiding spot.”

Everyone around the table laughed at that, while Steve pinked a little.

“So”, Steve asked Loki in the evening, “I still don’t understand what Monday is.”

“Except the remembrance event?” Loki asked, sorting books and files in his office, after he had half destroyed it in his panic.

“James and I got nobody to bring.”

“It’s not just family, Steve. This whole thing is basically about all of us opening up, trusting each other with secrets we kept to protect ourselves. Clint has a family and while it’s thankfully a very supporting one, it’s still a big secret none of you were trusted with before. If it’s more a ‘you didn’t ask’, that’s just a reason to feel good about it at night. So, do you have anyone that you feel should be here, because that person is darn important to you?”

Steve smiled softly and Loki put another big book into the shelf, before adding: “I invited Nick.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because it isn’t fair to the team to not let them know. As it wasn’t fair of him to not let any of you know about Coulson. Even when we dealt with HYDRA at the Triskelion he didn’t tell you. If he doesn’t come I’ll tell everyone anyway. And I’ve threatened him with the same.”

“It isn’t your secret to tell.”

“And it isn’t my secret to hide either.”

“This is a risk.”

“And it’s a risk most of us are willing to take. Most of us will open up. Do you not wish to make that sacrifice?”

“Some secrets are to great a risk to reveal.”

Loki shook his head. “Secrets are what will tear us apart from the inside. Us not talking things out, showing our hand, making each other understand. We are a lot of people with many different opinions.”

“Like that woman with the Time Stone that you never explained?”

“She might have _time_ to join us as well, yes. But while I am willing to show my hand, I still wonder if you are willing to show yours.”

“I’m an open book.”

“No, Steve, you’re not. You lock yourself up and hide as soon as you can. I can guess what your secrets are, but you would never willingly show us.”

“I got James and Sam, no more.”

Loki shook his head again. “You can lie to yourself, Steve, but you cannot lie to me. Get out of my sight.”

The trickster turned back to sorting his bookshelf until he heard the click of the door.

“Dumbass”, he muttered, “Trying to lie to the ‘God of Lies’.”

He snickered a little. The titles were fun at times, even if most had no actual effect on Loki as ‘God of Thunder’ had to Thor. Though it should be more ‘God of Lightning’ if one wanted to be correct about it.

“How’s it looking?”, Loki asked, as he stepped back into the planning room. There was a big map displayed on the side with tickers of who invited how many guests.

“Well, Trip wanted to invite Coulson and his team, but apparently they’re busy, so he just invited his mother, much like me”, Rhodey told him.

“We’re at a bustling 47 people”, Tony remarked, “well, if the mutants answer, otherwise that’s 4 less and then I’d win.”

“Win?”, Loki questioned with a scoff.

“Most people per person. I know we invited together, but there are some people that are clearly more attached to you than to me, so, putting the mutants on your side, you got a whopping 12 people, congratulations, I got one less.”

Loki thought for a moment. “Nat claimed one of mine, didn’t she?”

“Sure did.”

“And you split the kids down the middle.”

“Yup. Darcy was disappointed that she was invited by Thor and not by me or you and she in turn claimed Jane. Bruce invited Betty, but we’re not sure if she can make it on such short notice, so Darcy’s gonna let him claim her, if she can’t.”

“Who did James invite?”

“Well, Sam and he invited Sam’s family together.”

“I’ll let that slide. And Steve?”, Loki wanted to know.

“Alone as of yet. Though we three know he could claim at least one of mine.”

“He could have claimed the one Nat claimed from me as well.”

“And I think Nat’s prepared for that. Clint said he’d put her in with the Barton bunch if she’d have nobody to claim.”

“Well they _are_ basically family.”

Tony shrugged and then explained: “We’re not letting anyone off world into the party, as they wouldn’t understand its use for it and the Wakandans couldn’t make it. Leaving the country unattended…”

“Yeah. Could be catastrophic. This seems bigger than just a family gathering.”

“Yeah, feels basically like an impromptu meeting of the minds.”

“Well, we do have a few things that could be considered classified, that we gotta talk about.”

“What do you mean?”, Rhodey asked, seemingly a little confused.

“Shuri and I discussed possible uses for the Mind Stone. And before you say anything”, Loki interrupted while Rhodey already opened his mouth in protest, “It would be to study it and the Universe. The Time Stone is getting used often enough, more often than it should and rather than using the Mind Stone for something nefarious, we could use it for something, at least in theory, good.”

Rhodey groaned exhausted and then pointed to a chair at the table, before sitting across from Loki. “Explain”, he then said, the order clear in his voice this time.


	6. Three Years Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is it still a remembrance event when it kinda feels like an extended family party?

“Welcome to our semi-annual remembrance event”, Tony announced. “Who am I kidding?”, he added after that and chuckled, “That’s a lie and a mouthful. Welcome to the somewhat occasional Avengers party!”

Whoops and cheers sounded through the room and Loki stepped up next to Tony.

“First things first”, he announced, “thank you all for coming. The doorbell might still ring a few times, don’t worry about that, we’re still waiting for around ten more guests who will hopefully be able to make it. The punch is alcohol-free and shall stay that way for all our safety, I count a bunch of doctors in the house and only two of those have professional medical training. Around six, when hopefully everyone’s here we’ll have a meeting of a lot of the Avengers, plus other enhanced slash powered people and well… I’ll just call anyone into it that doesn’t think they’re supposed to be in that meeting and shove everyone out, that isn’t supposed to be. But for now, enjoy the party.”

“So, what’s this about?”, Fury growled and Loki waved him off to walk back to the living room.

“Junior!”

Harley turned in his seat, looking surprised at Loki. “Yeah?”

“How old are you?”

Harley stood up and came jogging over, his brow furrowing. “Fourteen, Dad, birthday’s in September.”

Loki thought for a moment. Then he nodded. “Get in there.”

“Really?” Harley’s face lit up and then hugged Loki tightly before running off.

“Darce, you and your crew too, and Doctor Cho, if you could join us as well, that would be great.”

Loki locked eyes with Amanda for a moment and she nodded to him. They and the Parkers were looking after the girls for the moment, along with Sam’s sister and her two children.

Mama Rhodes and Mama Triplett were talking with Laura, while her children played with Abby and Peter as well. A small smile came onto Loki’s face at seeing them all fitting into each other’s lives so easily. Happy was still looking around, but he eventually walked over to the group with the children.

When Loki entered the room again, they were still shouting. He closed the door and stood with his arms crossed at the side, his four sons at his side, copying him. Tony smirked across the room.

“What do we do?”, Harley hissed into Loki’s ear.

“We wait. Until the children have stopped fighting.”

Váli snickered at that and Loki watched as Steve still looked baffled between the Carters, one in a wheelchair, one standing at her side. Trip had started to hover near them, possibly because of his medical profession.

When the call came in, Loki rasped his voice. “Alright, that’s enough, settle, please.”

Most of the people in the room looked towards him and Loki held his hand out to the seats that pushed themselves away from the table.

“Settle down. We got a few things to address.”

One after another they took the seats and Loki finally accepted the call.

“Ey, what took you so long?”, Shuri complained a moment later.

“Princess”, Loki greeted her with a smile. “Getting almost thirty people to be quiet for a few seconds is rather complicated.”

“Oooh.” Shuri waved at the room, before sitting back and revealing T’Challa next to her.

“What are we here for?”, Fury wanted to know.

“Thanos”, Loki spoke. “Well, and the Mind Stone. Most of you are familiar with it, hopefully, I sent out briefing packages, Junior, I’ll clue you in later, got it?”

Harley nodded quickly.

“You want to defeat Thanos with a kid?”, Steve questioned.

“No. Harley will stay on Earth. As will my other children, for the time being.”

Tony nodded and Harley seemed relieved for a moment.

“We don’t know when we’ll find Thanos. It could be tomorrow, it could be ten years from now. But what we know now, is that we need to prevent what Thanos is planning. In the briefing packages was no information on that, as we did not yet have the information on that at the time. Since then we _have_ gotten that information. Thanos plans to cut the population in half.”

“Which population?”, Jane asked, confused.

“All population”, Loki answered, “On every planet. Look at the person next to you, one of you will die, if we can’t stop them. I don’t wish to wait which one and I don’t want to pick and choose. Which is why it’s important that all of your important people are here today, Avengers, as a reminder. We need to do something.”

“What?”, Sharon asked.

“We have the Mind Stone. And while I’m not the only person in this room weary of it, it is a great source of knowledge. We all do not want to sacrifice our own minds in the pursuit of that knowledge, I believe, but Shuri had an idea.”

“And how old is she?”, Nick questioned.

“Around two months older than Harley”, she told him and raised her eyebrow at Fury.

“Remember when I got infected two years ago? She was the one to save my life”, Loki informed Fury.

“Alright. Go ahead”, the other answered with an eye-roll.

“Not that I need your permission for anything”, she told him and Harley snickered softly, before Shuri continued: “My idea, in general: build an Android, give it an A.I., make it study the Mind Stone.”

“Cool”, Harley whispered.

“The thing is”, Loki put in, “We’d basically be creating a life. While Tony’s A.I.’s all know what they are, giving them a body could confuse them.”

“Theoretically”, Tony remarked.

“It is also not really morally good to do this while we are aware, that there is a being out there, that will rip out the Mind Stone without a second thought.”

“I thought about that”, Shuri put in, “Daily uploads of the consciousness on a secure server.”

“So it could still exist, if it should get killed?”, Tony questioned, “You can do that?”

“I have an idea, I’ll figure it out”, Shuri answered with a nod.

“But how will we get a body?”, Nat wondered.

“That’s where Doctor Cho comes in.”

The Doctor looked up a little surprised and Bruce nodded. “With the cradle…”

“Creating a functioning brain would be the most difficult task”, Cho told them, “But I believe it could be possible.”

“Alright. We got the body and we got the work for the Mind Stone, we still need the A.I.”, Loki summarised.

Tony sighed. “J?”

“I believe this would change everything about me and this is not my primary use.”

“Understood, buddy.”

“I would recommend F.R.I.D.A.Y., she might be young, but if we train her and she knows her primary use, what she is training for, she could be a great addition.”

“So, we’re just doing this?”, Steve questioned.

“This is still theoretical. Until we have all components ready, nothing will actively be set in motion.”

“I would let the A.I. choose its physical body”, Doctor Cho put in and Loki nodded.

“That would be appreciated. Could you figure out how to build a brain?”

Doctor Cho nodded.

“And I’ll get certain about the uplink”, Shuri informed them.

“And I guess, I’m gonna get F.R.I.D.A.Y. and get her up and running”, Tony added.

“Just to check”, Bruce said and looked towards Tony, “This isn’t Ultron, right?”

“Nope, just _one_ body for _one_ Artificial Intelligence.”

“Good.”

Loki stood and clasped his hands, before saying: “When we got all components ready we’ll meet again and discuss, vote, if we should do this.”

“Just a quick question”, Darcy interrupted him, “Where would _it_ stay?”

Loki sighed and looked to T’Challa on screen. The prince sighed. “Our people will not be happy about this.”

“He could stay with us”, Charles offered and Loki shook his head.

“You still reside in New York. We already got one Infinity Stone here. Jane? I hate to ask this…”

“As long as it can help me in the lab as well, it can stay with me.”

Loki chuckled a little. “Thank you for the offer.”

“So who’s going on the trip around space?”, Fury wanted to know.

“From this table? The Avengers and the mutants”, Charles informed him and looked to Loki to check.

Loki nodded. “This means, if Thanos gets on our radar before our training at the end of the month, Trip can’t join us. But that can still work in our favour. He’ll be able to coordinate the heroes of New York, if something big happens in the meantime.”

Trip nodded at that and Loki looked towards Sharon. “This is also a formal invitation for you to join the training at the end of the month.”

“What would happen if the Avengers are out at the scheduled training?”

Loki sighed. “It’ll happen as soon as we get back.” Loki looked towards the Ancient One. “Can we count on you and your people to keep an extra eye out while we’re away?”

She nodded. “We’ll be interacting with whoever manns the tower”, she answered him, “even if it is J.A.R.V.I.S.”

“Who are you anyway?”, Hill asked.

“I am a Master of the Mystic Arts.”

“So a magician”, Fury scoffed.

“A sorcerer more like”, Loki explained.

“So a friend of yours.”

“Got a problem with that, Nicky?”, Loki asked, smirking at him.

“So umm”, Harley started, “Why am _I_ here?”

“Well, first of all, Junior, I need you to know about this stuff. While your brothers will take care of the little ones, I actually got a job for you, for when you’re here this summer.”

“What?”

“I want you to familiarise yourself with the heroes, vigilantes, anti-heroes, et cetera of New York. You might not be one, but if we can establish a steady base, someone they can trust, we have the ability to chase after Thanos if needed.”

“I already got to know some last year”, Harley told him and Loki raised an eyebrow at that.

“I might have took him out on one or two patrols”, Clint confessed. “Come on, the kid was bored and completely safe. The most he got was a scratch on his knee.”

Loki sighed. “Fine. That’s a good way to start. Can you do this?”

“So, you’ll be gone all summer?”, Harley asked quietly and Loki pulled him into a half-hug.

“I won’t be gone all summer, or at least, we’ll try not to. But knowing someone is here, has our back, makes it much easier for us to leave.”

“To go save the galaxy.” Harley sighed. “Yeah, I can do it.”

“Thank you.”

“And besides”, Shuri said from the television, “I can visit anytime. Do you know all the stuff we can get up to with no supervision?”

“Shuri!”, T’Challa protested, but Harley grinned.

“Oh Norns, this was a bad idea”, Loki whispered and Tony laughed loudly at that.

* * *

Well, ‘tomorrow’ was a wrong estimate, but it wasn’t far off. It was a grey looking Saturday, just five days after the party, that the Avengers got summoned to Asgard. Tony and Loki had left their girls in the protective hands of the sons. To their surprise, they did not only find a group of X-Men, but also one Merc with a mouth already there, looking just as confused to getting summoned.

“What has happened Heimdall?”, Thor wanted to know, and Loki felt Heimdall’s gaze on himself for a moment, before moving to the other prince.

“Earlier today Nidavellir sent a message to us, we sent our forces quickly, even the Warrior’s Three and Lady Sif are battling the combatants at the moment. You all are uniquely qualified to fight them.”

Loki’s lip was trembling, when he addressed the watcher: “Who dared to attack the Dwarves?”

The name thrown back at him threw Loki in a spiral, he had not wished to hear it so soon. “Thanos.”

“The Titan himself”, Loki breathed, “Finally stepped down the throne.”

“You must fight. And you must win, Loki.”

The hand that laid steadying on his back wasn’t Tony’s and Loki flinched for a moment to look at Logan.

“Let us go into battle then”, Thor roared, and all stepped forward, even if they were afraid and did not feel like following Thor.

Loki’s gaze fell on Heimdall once more. “Thank you for getting us, Heimdall.”

Logan helped him walk forward and when his hand got grasped by Kurt, Loki felt a little safer. The trip was quick and Loki learned he wasn’t the only one making a protective shield around them, when they landed.

“Alright”, he announced, his voice shaking, but everybody seemed to ignore it. “You all got your teams. Does everybody have comms to communicate?” Loki knew the Avengers were all equipped, but quickly conjured ones for the remaining X-Men.

“I’m my own team”, Deadpool announced. “Yes, I know, I just needed to say it, because the X-Men don’t like me all that much. Hey, is this a ‘do what you do best, Deadpool’ kinda mission or a ‘killing is bad, Deadpool’ kinda mission?”

“If you kill the right people, Wade, it won’t be a problem”, Xavier told him.

Deadpool squealed. “Did you hear? Charlie called me Wade.”

“Here”, Loki said and handed Deadpool an extra pair of goggles, “I’ll mark the friendlies and the bad for you.”

“Is it enchanted? Can he enchant? I don’t know, normally, we don’t interact all that much, it’s like we’ve been deliberately ignored for the past iterations of this franchise.”

“It’s not enchanted…” Loki took the goggles back and gave them a spell to make them unbreakable. “Now it is. Good luck.” He patted Deadpool on the back and then moved to James, letting his shield fall and pulling his goggles down to begin marking friendlies for Deadpool.

“Thank you, J.A.R.V.I.S., that helps a lot”, he could hear Tony say, before he and his group moved away, while Loki stayed behind with James, Sam and Clint. “Keep doing that, Lokes.”

Hawkeye and James put their goggles down as well and Loki knelt for a moment, switching between views and marking people quickly, before he spotted Thanos on Rhodey’s visor and marked him as unfriendly.

“Rhodey”, he breathed, before clearing his throat, “The big purple guy, that’s him. Don’t take him on alone. Get his followers first.”

Loki didn’t know how it happened, but somehow, he had ended up in front of the Titan himself. He fell to a stop as the man clearly recognised him.

“We meet again, my little trickster, don’t you have something of mine?”

“My lord”, Loki stammered, and he couldn’t believe the words out of his own mouth, bile rising in the same.

“Have I not made you happy? When we found out you could carry, I gave you my own as a promise.” Loki paled and while he tried to step away, he felt a weapon against his neck. “How is our little creation?”

“Dead”, Loki snarled. A moment later he was pierced by a thousand needle like knives, that looked oddly like Loki’s own. Loki howled as he was suspended in air.

“I blessed you and you’d rid yourself of it. I should have known you wouldn’t be able to defeat such a pesky world.”

“You know, asshole, we kinda take offence in that.”

Loki almost relaxed at the whirr of Tony’s gauntlets and the other arriving warriors.

“Stark.”

“You know me?”

“I do. You’re not the only one cursed with knowledge.”

“Our only curse is you.”

The Avengers and X-Men roared into battle and Loki let himself fall. Everything would turn out to be alright.

“Ouch, those must hurt”, someone said next to him and Loki opened his eyes to look at the white eyes on Deadpool’s mask. “Alright, Loki two-point-oh, let’s get you out of here, time to save the hero. Maybe I’ll even get a stand-alone out of this. No, that’s not why I do stuff. It’s just, you know…”

“Can you just get on with it?”, Loki cut him off.

“Sure thing, Ice Queen.” Deadpool stepped around him. “Now where to start? Yes, I know, but I don’t know where the vital organs are on aliens.”

“Get them out, before I shoot them out and probably kill some of our friends.”

“We’re friends? No, he said _our_ friends and he did, hopefully, include us in that.”

“Wade…”

“Yes?”

“Get on with it, before I have my husband kill you, just for fun.”

Deadpool started removing needles. “Dying is no fun”, he whispered, clearly to himself, “And it’s not what hero’s do. No, I can’t steal it, if it’s from a whole different timeline and nobody knows I stole it. Do you think it’ll… No, he’s still here, he should have disappeared by now.”

Loki hissed, when an especially violently planted needle was removed from his body. “Wade?”

“Yes? No, he won’t, Loki two-point-oh is too nice for that.”

“How many more?”

“A dozen maybe, see I told you, sorry, the voices were rambling, saying you’d tell me to shut up.”

Loki tried to smile. “How are they doing?”

Deadpool looked around for a moment. “I think they got his ‘kids’ are they really called that? They’re not even… How are they related, Loki, do you know?”

“I know little of Thanos himself, the one I interacted with wasn’t one of his children, but an adviser and he’s dead. I believe however, he steals the ones that have potential from planets he invades and then proceeds to kill half the planet.”

“Great. Well, not _great_ … How do you know the person’s dead? I mean, he hasn’t interacted with him or his kids and he could be lying to us and still follow him behind our backs, but he’s the God of…”

“I dreamt of his death.”

“Cool, I dream of a lot of deaths of my enemies.”

“I dreamt of the present, Deadpool. And the present cannot lie. The future can change.”

“Duh! Why would we be here at all, if it didn’t.”

“And the past can be manipulated.”

“Sounds weird, but okay.”

“It can’t be changed, but I can pretend it was different, to a certain point.”

“Oh, so you _actually_ dreamt of the present. Like a fucking nightmare, or dream or whatever.”

“Yes.”

“Sounds cool, no I don’t think, you can’t predict the future, right?”

“Only my own, to a point. Past and future only my own, but I wouldn’t call it predicting.”

Deadpool moved faster now, seemingly not caring as much for the hurt, after her saw Loki’s wounds all close up. “And the present thing, how does that work?”

“I look through the eyes of someone close to me.”

“You were close to Thanos’ adviser?”

“As close as anyone can be to their torturer, manipulator, rapist.”

“Shit, your list getting any longer than that? No, that only happens to us, because we can’t die.”

“No, most of that’s in there.” Loki sighed a little, as Deadpool plucked the last needles from him and Loki let himself glide to the ground.

Loki’s gaze fixated on Thanos and somehow the Titan looked into his direction with a smirk. He did not seem effected at all, but one of his children had fallen, after it had been hurled into Nidavellir’s neutron star by seemingly Thor. When Loki summoned his poisoned knives and fixed them with ice forming around his hands to them, Thanos ordered his children to retreat, leaving the heroes to battle a few hundred Chitauri. Loki wanted to shoot his daggers after the man, but Thor stopped him.

“The battle is not yet won, Brother, revenge can still be taken on the creatures that harmed you.”

With a growl, Loki turned back to the Chitauri as Thanos’ ship departed. At least they had prevented the slaughter of the Dwarves, even though Loki saw countless injured and some seemingly on the brink of death.

Thankfully they ended the battle without losses on their side, but heavy injuries still and Deadpool was regrowing one arm while leaning against James’ side, telling him how they were the same now.

“What was his purpose here?”, Loki asked.

“He wanted us to make a gauntlet”, one of the Dwarves towering over the prince answered.

“To wield the Stones”, Loki mumbled and shook his head.

“You have our thanks for standing your ground. Have you lost any brothers or sisters in this battle?”, Thor asked.

“No, Asgard answered our call quickly enough to prevent it.”

“Have you lost any materials, anything else we would be able to compensate you with for your troubles?”, Loki asked in turn.

“We can make a list”, the Dwarf answered with a smirk and Loki chuckled at that.

“Hand it to Thor.” Then he looked to his brother. “You will return to Asgard after this?”

“Yes. With our shield-brethren and shield-sisters. You will return to Midgard to look after the others?”

“We shall.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very thankful I read through this in one go when I started uploading Act 4 so I don't have to do it now.
> 
> Real life is getting a bit stressful at the end of September / beginning of October so I might not be able to upload every week, or plain forget to do it then. I promise, Act 4 has been fully written and I have an ending for it all, I'll try to update when I can.


	7. Earth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm busy on Saturday and Sunday and it's already finished, so you're getting this one early.

“Oh, home sweet home”, Deadpool exclaimed, dramatically kneeling and kissing the grass in front of the Avengers facility. “Bleh. Nope.”

Loki chuckled a little. “Alright, everyone, get a partner and get cleaned up, you fine with that, Deadpool?”

“As long as nobody comments.”

“We have nothing to comment on, lets get going. Steve can you pair up with him?”

Steve nodded and Loki checked that everyone had a partner. As usual, Clint and Natasha had paired up, this time, Sam had taken James, and Rhodey had nodded towards Bruce in turn. Deadpool followed Steve like a puppy and Tony and Loki were the last to enter the building.

“J, get a move on with the rooms. Floor plan, check who would pair best next to whom, we got good sound proofing, right? And get the docs here, even Sleip, for a once-over of everyone. Deadpool isn’t staying, but he can enjoy the service as well. Oh and send a message to Professor X, if they require the services of our doctors.”

“Will do, Sir. Were you successful?”

“Well, one of his children is dead and hundreds of Chitauri, but no, we couldn’t get the big bad.”

“A temporary failure hopefully”, J.A.R.V.I.S. put in.

“Well, at least we had no losses. It appears we took Thanos by surprise. Next time he’ll be better prepared.”

“I feel he will be after me specifically the next time around”, Loki whispered. “He will come after me, possibly regretting that he did not before.”

“And we got everything locked tight. Make the report a working document this time, J.A.R.V.I.S. and give reading rights to Trip, Hill, Coulson, Fury, Shuri, T’Challa and, what was her name, the one with the Time Stone?”

“The Ancient One, though I do not believe she has much technology.”

“Really? Well, we’ll send her a raven or something. Oh and inform the others that it’s a working document. Let’s get this ball rolling. Is F.R.I. with you?”

“Already here, Boss.”

“Welcome to the compound. Are familiarising yourself?”

“There are so many new uses for me, Boss.”

“Are you happy?”

“I’m not sure what that emotion contains yet.”

Tony chuckled and then pulled Loki into the showers.

The Avengers were out of commission for two entire weeks. Apparently they all needed a psychological check-up, with this being their first major loss. Loki still believed, if the battle had not been on Nidavellir, but on a planet with a vastly different playground than a ‘donut-shaped’ one, they could have won. One strategy point Thanos held was his ship. Another was his masses of fighters that were willing to die.

“We just need _one_ nuke”, Tony said at the first meeting after all of their evaluations.

It was odd, not seeing Clint at the table. Thor was a regular disappearance and Bruce was often travelling for scientific opportunities. Fury was instead sitting with them, thinking. It seemed that all were still in shock or were thinking through things that might work.

“One nuke”, Tony repeated, to the room that wasn’t really listening, “And he’ll be done for.”

Loki shook his head. “This isn’t outer space. The radiation would infect hundreds and with gravity, the ship would fall to the planets. We cannot take him in space, most of us would need intensive training and that would take far too long. We need gravity. We can adapt to gravity, but we most definitely need it.”

“Damn”, Tony whispered.

“And besides”, Fury said, “Nobody would give a Stark a nuke willingly.”

“Got any better ideas?”, Tony wanted to know.

“I got a few last reserves”, Fury said and Loki raised an eyebrow at him. “But you’re right about one thing. The ship is his advantage. The disadvantage of destroying it though, would be that he would probably fight harder once it’s destroyed, because it’s either you or them.”

“Thanos won’t give up easily”, Loki told him with a nod. “We have to take the fight to him, but in a way that he doesn’t know we’re after him. We need a battleground were no bystander can get hurt.”

“What do you suggest?”, Fury asked and around the table eyes focused on Loki.

“We gather the Stones”, Loki told him.

“That’s the stupidest thing I have heard out of your mouth”, Rhodey told him.

“We’re trying to keep them away from Thanos, what would getting them bring?”, Nat wanted to know.

“Getting the first four should be easy. And I know Gamora unwilling to give up the location of the last one, but I believe I know the location of the fifth.”

“You believe?”, Steve questioned.

“It was underground. But Bor would not have hidden it on a civilised planet. Not with the risk of anyone being able to get it by chance. And that planet would be the perfect battleground.”

“Within the Nine Realms”, Tony whispered and then with realisation on his face stared at Loki. “Svartalfheim.”

“But we must prepare”, Loki told him, “It must look as if we really are gathering all six. Keeping them separate enough, but near to combine them in our hour of need. And we must plan enough. When the battle comes, we must be ready. We only have one chance.”

“When?”, Fury asked.

“This summer would be too short, but we cannot lose Thanos’ trail either. The Guardians must protect the Power Gem themselves, not risk a civilisation outside of the immediate reach of the realms. I say in a year’s time we attack Thanos and end his existence.”

“Aye”, Thor said behind Loki and the younger God shook surprised, before jumping from his chair to clasp his brother’s hands.

Behind Thor stood the Warrior’s Three and Lady Sif. Fandral had manacles around each of his wrists, his ankles and his throat. Loki’s eyes focused on him and he grabbed Tony just in time so he could not attack Loki’s rapist. Fandral had been on Nidavellir as well, but far enough away so Loki had not need to see him in battle.

“A year’s time”, Thor repeated. “We must train at your sides.”

“I’m afraid we only have room for three of your friends”, Loki hissed, “The blonde must lay his head down on a different realm.”

Volstagg chuckled at that and even Sif seemed to smirk.

“Brother you cannot be serious, we need all the help we can get to defeat this monster.”

“And I have not said anything against him training at our side, but I will not house one that has molested me while we chase to kill another who has done the same. He will either not train at our side, or he will spend his rest elsewhere. Midgard has no room for scum like him.”

Loki heard people get up behind him and Steve growled in a tone that Loki had never heard before: “He’s the one that tortured you? He’s the one that violated you?”

“Aye”, Loki spoke and straightened, focusing his eyes on Fandral again. “He’s the one whose life I’d willingly throw at Thanos to let Thanos tear him apart.”

Loki turned and walked from the room, hearing the scuffle behind him.

“That must have been hard”, Nat said at his side, “confronting him and not tearing his throat out.”

“A life more to battle Thanos is a life more to help us win. That does not mean I have to like his existence.”

The next training session another week later was a spectacle in and of itself. Sharon had decided to join the fight as well, only after she saw that the Avengers did not always win their battles but could fail as well. Others would have backed off just because of that, but to Sharon it was a reason to step into the battle.

With six new people that all had no knowledge of each other’s strengths, they held off on ‘capture the flag’ just like they had when James and Sam first joined. It was a method to  _ improve _ their teamwork and at the moment none existed. Besides, the Warrior’s Three and Lady Sif were their own unit and would not become Avengers, as they did not think themselves responsible for the realm as Loki and Thor thought themselves responsible.

Sharon and Trip passed their psychological tests easily enough and were gifted their rooms at the almost completed ‘New Avengers Facility’, or by most lovingly called ‘compound’. With James switching to active and Clint switching to passive it almost looked like not much had changed.

Clint promised weekly updates on his son Nathaniel until his paternal leave was over and those often included small videos, one in particular where Clint was overrun by his elder children and he shouted ‘Save me, Loki’, forgetting that he had his teleporter-watch on and a sleep-ridden Loki appearing at his side moments later, thankfully not sporting knives, before he got drowned by the two Barton-kids as well.

Almost when the Avengers thought their only problem for the near future would be Thanos, the twins attacked again. Or well, they tried. Pietro was stopped by a ward around the tower’s upper quarters. That had them enraged and all employees were at their mercy, so the Avengers had to step in.

The one they’d have to worry about most was Wanda, as her powers were more uncontrolled, but as long as the Avengers stayed in the wards Loki constructed, the two attackers had no way to hurt them. Capturing them was harder though. Pietro was faster then Loki’s spells. At least they seemed like they only wanted to terrorise people and not actively hurt them.

Though there was a big distinction between Wanda’s and Pietro’s attacks. Wanda seemed out for blood, while Pietro seemed to be more cheerful, playing with them and actually knowing how much bad he could do, if he ripped somebody out of their normal pace.

While Tony had wanted to face them, the Avengers had almost unanimously, save for Tony’s vote, decided, that Tony was safer away from the battle. As was Bruce, who had removed himself from the situation. If Wanda would be able to control the Hulk, this could have massive consequences, so instead the scientists decided to finally work on the problem Tony and Loki had found over two years ago, a way to get mind-controlled Avengers in a controlled environment, or a smaller device that would prevent control of a mind in general.

In the end, Loki was able to establish a perimeter, sneaky as he was. The playing field was big, for New York, but empty with no people getting in or out, as they had been able to clear the area with teleporting people away. The Maximoff twins were inside the field though. The next step was pretty easy. Slowing Pietro down. And while he couldn’t do spells on the speedster himself, Loki knew that the boy needed friction to move and removing that was one of Loki’s easiest to control elements.

While ice still had some friction it was a lot less than the ground Pietro was running on at the moment. And with Loki being a Jötunn his ice spread fast. Creating curves around edges so Pietro wouldn’t actually get hurt was difficult, but not impossible. The more difficult thing was keeping the ice dry, as Pietro’s running kept warming it up. But at this he was faster than the other.

When Pietro fell on his butt in front of Loki, Loki broke out into a happy laughter. It was not angry or mischievous, it was not with glee that he’d taken him down, the young man just looked so utterly perplexed that Loki couldn’t help but laugh at the scene.

With a giggle he held out his hand to the man. “Well met”, he spoke and after a few unsuccessful attempts to get up on his feet, Pietro finally gave in and took Loki’s hand.

“You do not fight fair”, Pietro told him.

“And you _do_?”, Loki asked and Pietro smirked.

“You are fun.”

“As are you. As long as you don’t plan on hurting people.”

“Like your husband?”, he questioned, the heavy accent shining through the longer they spoke.

“Brother”, Wanda hissed and Loki looked at her, as she was flying over the ground.

Loki’s stomach turned. With getting Pietro on his feet, he’d stepped out of his ward. All the Avengers’ weapons were trained on Wanda.

“May I educate you?”, Loki asked them.

“We do not need your false words”, Wanda spoke and Loki shrugged.

“You are not the first people to see a Stark Industries weapon kill others and you’re not the first to get away from it.”

“Are you saying we are not special?”, Wanda asked, red curling around her hands.

“I am saying you two were very lucky to be able to stare at such a weapon without it going off. My husband was not as lucky.”

Pietro frowned, but Wanda lifted him into air. “We do not believe your lies, traitor.”

“Educate yourselves until you see us again. I know you hate the Avengers and more than that Tony Stark, but do not judge him for faults that are not his.”

Wanda growled and then left with a struggling Pietro in tow. When Loki felt them approach a border, Loki let the ward there fall to let them leave, before letting all other control leave as well. Loki slid to the floor as the ice disappeared and the Avengers approached him. Loki’s eyes were on Rhodey’s face though.

“Was this out of turn?”, Loki asked.

“You thought it was best”, Rhodey told him and Loki nodded.

“They might not be children anymore, far from it, but they are not evil and they don’t want to kill. They want chaos.” Loki chuckled a little. “I like them more than I should.”

“You like the boy”, James told him with a smirk.

“I do. She is a much different person than he. He’s passionate and while I cannot deny the same for her, she believes all she’s been told and that fits into the picture of her world, while he at least seems willing to listen to a different option.”

“They are very protective of each other”, Nat said and Loki nodded.

James knelt next to Loki and then pushed his sleeves up, before scowling and lifting Loki on his arms. “You’ve got to be more careful.”

“I’m our only sorcerer, I was the only one that could stop him.”

“That is not true, Brother”, Thor spoke, “You are just the fastest one. We would have bested them eventually.”

People were shouting in the press room. Loki was shifting in his seat. Rhodey hadn’t even started talking and the questions were already asked. Most times the press at least waited for the report. James grabbed his one hand while Thor felt for his other, but Loki’s breath was already speeding again.

Rhodey saw him twitch and then switched his microphone off again, whispering something in Nat’s ear, playing a short game of telephone, as she told Steve, who told Sam, who told James, who after that told Loki: “Loki’s turn.”

Loki smirked and then put his fingers to his lips, all Avengers immediately bringing their hands to their ears, before Loki performed a sharp whistle quieting the reporters.

“You are not children and you are not animals. Behave yourselves!”

The room quieted and Loki looked back to Rhodey, while turning his microphone on again.

“Thank you, Loki”, Rhodey told him and then turned to the room. “This morning we were alerted to two enhanced individuals as they tried to trespass one of Snowflake’s wards that were put up for our protection. As Snowflake can’t regulate who enters the Avengers Tower for their work for Stark Industries those floors were not warded. The individuals then went to damage and scare the employees working at Stark Industries, though to their favour it must be added that no individual was harmed. We also believe the two do not mean to harm any bystanders. The same cannot be said for their stance against the Avengers as a total especially certain Avengers. These were the two individuals the Avengers encountered in Sokovia at the end of April this year. The country is very much anti-American and anti-Avengers as they all did not like when HYDRA opened their base there, posing as S.H.I.E.L.D. The two individuals, the twins Wanda and Pietro Maximoff volunteered for the experiments that inevitably made them enhanced.”

“Are they HYDRA?”, one reporter asked.

“We believe they have their own goals and while they sided with HYDRA in Sokovia, we don’t believe they have turned to another base of HYDRA for shelter. We believe most of their efforts are in protecting their own country and while they have other goals that might align with HYDRA’s, those might be their personal goals.”

“What are their goals?”

“We already stated that they hate the Avengers, but they also hate Tony Stark. While they have not explicitly told us or anyone, as of yet, what they want or wish to achieve, we believe them angry at Tony.”

“Is that why Mister T. Stark is not here today?”

“Tony and Bruce weren’t on the field today, neither as Iron Man and Hulk, nor as their usual person. They do not have anything to contribute to this briefing.”

“Why do they hate Mister T. Stark especially?”

Rhodey chuckled at that. “Why does anyone hate Tony? Because he used to produce weapons and sell them. Some of those weapons were illegally sold, we checked, while Obadiah Stane controlled most of the sells and sold them to the highest bidder. Those weapons landed in the hands of enemies of Sokovia. Apparently a shell landed in the building the Maximoffs lived in, orphaning the two. Another shell that did not go off landed on their floor in near vicinity of the two.”

“But shouldn’t they hate Mister Stane because of that?”

“It was not Stane’s name on those weapons and it was not him that made the blueprints. Yes we can argue with their own thinking, but it was also not Stane that sent those missiles. Tony is not personally responsible for every death done by weapons that used to be produced by Stark Industries. If I would fire a gun at another person, the person I shot would not blame the person that had the _idea_ for the weapon. No, that person would blame me. Though one could have a _skewed_ sense of blame if one does not know the person that fired the weapon. The twins, ten at the time, had more than 48 hours to look at a shell bearing the logo ‘Stark Industries’. Who would _you_ blame for your parents’ death at an age like that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I _had_ planned on making the Maximoffs villains in this, but somehow it didn't want to happen, even if I'm not a fan of Wanda's (thanks to fanfiction giving me a new view on things). I do like Pietro, he brings humour to the story along with Deadpool.


	8. Deadpool and the Keener Kid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a look at what Harley does while the Avengers are away. And Deadpool is... odd

Thankfully the Maximoff twins did not decide to make their attacks a weekly thing. While this made finding workarounds for Tony and Bruce easier, not knowing when they may attack made training a lot harder, as Loki still had to keep the wards up which was constantly draining his Seiðr and could not actually attend any training sessions because they would drain him more than he already was.

With the Avengers being on constant stand-by to have to go into space, Bruce and Tony also couldn’t lead the science camp this year. Thankfully Betty and Jane were delighted to take over and with the two Avengers’ background help it seemed to come together great.

Harley was not in the best mood when he arrived. He’d be staying at the tower and working closely with Tony and Bruce so he wouldn’t be seeing the other boys as much. They came to visit, but it was rare. Thankfully Harley also got visits by Peter and sometimes went to Peter’s place to meet him and his friend Ned.

Out of all the people of New York that Harley met in the first three weeks of being there, Deadpool was by far the strangest, but also the coolest.

“Oh, so you’re the kid?”

“ _The_ kid?”

“You know, important character who gets called in that’s obviously a main character but almost everyone suspects is a side-character?”

Harley chuckled. “What makes you think I’m that kid?”

“Oh, they’re laying the groundwork for you to become a hero. They’re making you meet everyone and, no I know I’m not a hero, I, Yellow! Listen, kid…”

“Harley.”

“What?”

“Name’s Harley”, Harley told him, “Harley Keener.”

Deadpool frowned, before leaning close and whispering: “Are you planning on getting bitten by a spider?”

“What?”

“Reactor explosion than? Getting your summerly radiation poisoning? Or maybe you were an alien all along? Somehow don’t need glasses anymore one day?”

“I never needed glasses.”

“Ever killed someone?”

Harley raised his eyebrow. “I’m Fourteen.”

“You’re fourteen? Oh how cute, guys look this boy is basically a baby.”

“I’m basically your _boss_.”

“Then why aren’t you here all year? No, I just mean, the boss can’t just come and go as he…” Deadpool seemed to roll his eyes, using his head to accentuate the movement, as his eyes were hidden underneath his mask. “Sorry, the voices are just kind of annoying today.”

“I go to school in Tennessee.”

“Oh, a cowboy then? A cow-baby? I like that one.”

“Out”, Harley told him.

“You can’t just throw me out, cowbaby, I just got here.”

“I’m your boss, I can throw you out any time I want to.”

“Oh come on baby-boss, we’re gonna get along great, right? So I can stay in the story? I’ll introduce you to everyone, I promise.”

Harley chuckled at that. “Fine. You can go and introduce me, so I don’t look like some kid that got dragged to places by his parents.”

“Are you though? No, don’t answer that. Wait, other question, are you their kid?”

“Not biological.”

Deadpool stared at him for a moment, before nodding heavily. “Yeah, that makes sense, you’re actually Thor’s kid aren’t you?”

Harley broke out in loud laughter at that. “I wish! Now get out.”

“Oh, we’re doing the getting to know each other’s tragic background some other time, got it. How ‘bout I’ll pick you up next… Wednesday and show you ‘round town?”

“Works for me”, Harley told them and then shoved Deadpool in the elevator, before Deadpool handed a card to him with a badly sketched Deadpool on it and a Number on the back.

“Call me, baby-boss.”

“See you, D-P.”

“Hey, I like that, hope that sticks around. It’s easy enough, D-P for Deadpool.”

“We’re a side-story, aren’t we?”, Deadpool questioned the next time they met.

He was still wearing his uniform and had brought a spare mask for Harley, according to him for his protection.

“What do ya mean?”

“Well, you and me walking around the city, this can’t be part of the main story, I mean last time we met mean purple grape. Damn it, I was so confident you were a main character. With how Loki introduced you.”

“How _did_ he introduce me?”

“He… No, Loki wouldn’t shove me to the side, right? You’re not a baby, I am _not_ a babysitter. Loki’s just so handsome with the Tom Hiddleston charm…”

“Who?”

“Oh, an actor, he’s gorgeous. Tay-Tay made a whole song about it. I’m important right? Maybe I’m your mentor-type.”

“You’d be a horrible mentor, D-P.”

“True. Not a good role model at all. Now… D-D!”, Deadpool shouted, before perching on the rooftop, handing Harley a crumbled sandwich from his pink backpack. “Eat up, this might take a bit.”

Harley took off his mask and bit into the sandwich. “Who’s D-D?”

“Oh, Daredevil. Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, he’s amazing. I hope we’re not getting the Ben Affleck version though, too bulky for my taste. So, tell me about the Avengers. Who do we have? The Original Six?”

Harley raised an eyebrow at him and then swallowed. “Well… Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye and the Hulk. Then War Machine and Snowflake. All of those joined before I came to visit the first time. Don’t you watch the briefings?”

“Too busy. What do you mean the first time?”

“Well, I came to visit the first time in the summer of 2013. Come here every summer since. Every vacation.”

“Any more?”

“Well, the Falcon and the White Wolf. And two agents, I don’t think they got code-names.”

“Probably lazy writing. Who’s the ‘White Wolf’?”

“Oh, James.”

“Which one? Isn’t James War Machine?”

“That’s Rhodey, or Colonel Rhodes, no I mean Barnes.”

“Bucky?”, Deadpool asked excited, even though Harley was sure that they had already met.

“Don’t call him that, he hates it.”

“But why?”

“Because Bucky was him before the Winter Soldier and he doesn’t want to be reminded that he isn’t that person anymore and doesn’t want anyone to think he is.”

“Ooh, cool concept. So no Scarlet Witch and no Vision?”

“Who?”

“Forget I said anything. Wait, what happened to Ultron?”

“Who?”

“Darn it. Sokovia? If you exist, and I read back you helped Tony right? With the A.I.M. shit?”

“Yeah. Wait, Sokovia? The team infiltrated a HYDRA base there. You sure you didn’t watch press briefings?”

“Maybe I should, but that would make these conversations unneeded and we desperately need the filler, so the author can show time has passed. I’m sure this is over after this chapter too, or maybe after another one…”

Harley frowned at him and bit into his sandwich again.

“Alright. Did anything major happen in Sokovia?”

“Well, Tony got hurt, someone did shit to his brain, don’t tell anyone and Loki took care of it.”

“Oh, that’s how that was prevented and with that, that wouldn’t happen…” Deadpool pointed around through the air, seemingly connecting points, before grabbing his head. “Oh shit! This means Civil War will not happen! Oh I’m so glad!”

“You mean the American Civil War, over a decade ago?”

“And Infinity War won’t happen either, because the… _spoilers_!”

Deadpool stared at Harley who, after a moment of waiting for the other to say something more, shoved the rest of the sandwich into his mouth.

“You’re weird”, Harley told him, licking the sauce from his lips.

“Thanks”, Deadpool stated. “It’s mostly superior knowledge though and commentators in my head.”

“Really?”

“Pinkie-promise”, Deadpool told him and held out his hand. Carefully Harley laid his own little finger around it and Deadpool seemed to lighten up.

“Deadpool”, a man spoke and Deadpool shot to his feet.

“Oh thank god, not the Ben Affleck version. Nothing against the being, just, I _so_ like you better, D-D.”

“Who’s your friend, Wade?”

“Oh this sweet kid is Harley, he’s amazing. Going to be the next big thing, I promise, though he’ll probably take more after his dads…”

“This is amazing”, Deadpool said, as Harley looked at the other man disbelieving while he curled himself in the Pillow Jail.

“It’s pretty cool I guess.”

“Who made this?”

“Well, it was kinda Wilson’s and Barnes’ idea, but Loki’s kids and I built it.”

“Cool”, Deadpool said again, before looking up. “Really, baby-boss, this is amazing. I can just fall asleep right here and…”

“Didn’t you want to talk to me?”

“Did I? Is that why I’m here again? Well, really, I just wanted a day off and come talk to my new favourite part-time New-Yorker. How’s your day?”

“Borin’”, Harley told him, curling up in the sheets and pillows a bit away with a good view on the city.

Deadpool tugged at his socked foot. “What’s got you so down?”

“Avengers are out again.”

“And they didn’t take me?”

“They’re baitin’ the bad guy, apparently. Professor Xavier didn’t go out either and Trip and Shar stayed behind to monitor comms.”

“Are you sure _you_ didn’t call me?”

Harley smirked. “Clint called too, asked if I was alright, same as Xavier.”

“Are you?”

“I’m kinda worried. But the boys are keepin’ the girls safe and Happy’s there for if they need anythin’ or run out of food and I gotta be here to take care of…” Harley choked on his breath, tears coming onto his face.

Deadpool rolled over to him, covered in half a dozen sheets. “It’s fine to be afraid.”

“The only person in the tower that still talks to me is Darcy and she’s busy with nobody findin’ out that the Avengers are off again, apparently that’s a lot harder to do than when they are gone than when they are just lazy and not doin’ anythin’.”

“And you don’t wanna go out?”

“Nah. If I go out, I just kinda wanna call Peter or Ned, he’s Peter’s friend, and see if they wanna han’ out and I’m too easy to read for that.”

Deadpool hummed in response.

“Why do you never take off your outfit anyway, that must stick to your skin like shit.”

Deadpool laughed at that. “I’m not really easy on the eyes.”

“I don’t expect you to be a Steve Rogers or Thor, don’t worry. And if it’s because of secret identity…”

“I kinda give a shit about that. But I don’t really have anything to change into at the…”

“J.A.R.V.I.S., find some clothes for D-P.”

“Will do, Master Keener.”

“It’s still odd that he calls you that”, Deadpool decided and Harley got onto his feet.

“Wait here, or well, by the bathroom, I’ll be right back. The most of the stuff that’s here anyway isn’t their favourites, those are at the compound already.”

A few minutes later Harley was back and held out a bunch of clothing to Deadpool. When the other still hadn’t come out twenty minutes later, Harley hammered on the door.

“Do I have to get my blowtorch, D-P?!”

“I’m not as pretty as your other friends.”

“I don’t care. I don’t wanna date you, D-P, I just want you to feel comfortable.”

Sheepishly Deadpool unlocked the door and came out, most of his clothing changed, but mask and gloves still on. Harley grabbed his hand with a pointed eyebrow.

“Can I?”

“I don’t know, _can_ you?”

Harley rolled his eyes and Deadpool nodded with a sigh. Carefully Harley removed the gloves. Then he took Deadpool’s hands again and turned them over in his own hands.

“So?”, Harley asked.

“I look like a horror movie”, Deadpool exclaimed.

“It’s not all about looks, D-P, or did the Avengers say anythin’?”

“No, Cap just looked and then asked if it was normal.”

“And is it?”

“Normal? No. Permanent? Yes.”

“How did it happen?”

“Cancer, experimental treatment, people were assholes and now I’m a pink rotten avocado.”

Harley chuckled at that and then nodded. “Obviously shit stuff but you kept your humour. Mask?”

Slowly Deadpool pulled it off and Harley looked at him for a moment and then nodded again.

“Yeah, might take some gettin’ used to, but it’s fine. You don’t look horrifyin’. You look fine. If anythin’”, Harley told Deadpool and grabbed the other’s chin, looking a bit closer, “It kinda brings out your eyes.”

Deadpool chuckled and Harley held out his hand to him. “Hi, I’m Harley Keener, my dad left my mum, Abby and me when I was six and I met Tony Stark as he broke into our garage two and a half years ago.”

“I’m Wade Wilson, mercenary, used to be Special Forces, but don’t tell that to anyone and I survived cancer, but kinda still have it, my body just heals fast enough so I can’t die.”

“So”, Harley started, munching on his cereal, “If you’d get your head cut off…”

“Reddit says both, two Deadpools.”

“Not tested?”

“Rather traumatising don’t you think? No, not this version, thank you very much.”

“And to not have like dozens of little Deadpools…”

“Full-grown, please”, Wade corrected.

“How would we prevent that?”

“Oh, just patch me back together the best you can.”

“Sounds easy enough.”

“Well, isn’t always easy.”

“Well, if I’m around to pick up the pieces, I hope you won’t hate me for throwin’ up a few times to do so. We should ask Tony to make you a suit, that if it gets ripped totally in one place, the tower gets alerted. Hey, J., mark that as a project.”

“I have put it on Sir’s priority list.”

“That seems rather expensive, you know, baby-boss, not every hero is a billionaire.”

“He’s been outfittin’ a lot of people basically for free.”

“But I get cut a _lot_. I don’t really avoid it all that much.”

“He’ll figure somethin’ out.”

“Oh, not you, bored baby-boss makes me a super-suit.”

Harley laughed at that. “Get ready for a make-over. No, serious, I could get ideas, but I’m not allowed to work on big stuff. I think there’s a counter, if the Avengers stay away for more than three weeks, I get actual allowance to create certain stuff.”

Wade rubbed his hands mischievously. “Stuff? Letting Kenner loose on New York?”

Harley smirked. “Oh, I definitely got some Loki in me, but they’re all tryin’ to do their best.” His eyes went to the window, smiling at the skyline. “Bein’ in New York is kinda like bein’ able to be truthful to myself, like bein’ able to open up.”

“Really? Why?”

“Rose Hill is just full of fuckin’ hate.”

“And New York’s full of love?”, Wade countered with a raised eyebrow.

Harley shook his head and then walked to the windows. “New York is full of opportunity. In Rose Hill everythin’ I do will get thrown into my mum’s face, or people will pick on Abby for it. But here… It’s like a fresh start.”

Harley turned around to Wade and smiled.

“I can be _any_ thin’ here. Nobody will judge me, at least not yet. Nobody will judge me”, he said and pointed at himself, “For bein’ me. Whether that’s the weird kid that creates potato guns in his meantime or the son of a single mother that hangs out with heroes for weeks at end in the summer.”

“Sounds like your home town needs a make-over.”

Harley chuckled. “Probably, but that will never happen. Not in my lifetime.”

“So if you got the chance to stay here, would you take it?”

“What are we thinkin’? With or without my mum’s approval?”

“Either”, Wade said and then took a drink of his milk.

“Without? Never. With? Depends on Tony and Loki. If it’s like now, when they’re away all the time? I’d hate this.” Harley shrugged. “You see it. You see me breakin’ down. I have to get through this trial-run, it’s only ten weeks, right? And I still get to see a lot of different people, acceptin’ people, but without my dads, still in New York, all the time? It would be horrible.”

“Don’t all kids your age want to get out of the house?”

Harley chuckled. “I could never abandon my family. And I know my limits. I could never be alone for that lon’. I’m a fuckin’ fourteen year old kid. I know two years ago, I took a road-trip to get here, to see Tony and Loki for the summer. That took half a fuckin’ day, but I _knew_ they’d be there, I _knew_ I wouldn’t be alone and I was one hundred percent sure they wouldn’t send me right back. I could never just run away. Not after what my father did.”

Wade nodded slowly and then shrugged. “But I’m here.”

That made Harley burst into a laugh, before calming himself. “You know, you haven’t talked to your voices in a while, is everything alright?”

“Yeah, sometimes they just shut up for a while when the paragraph is emotional and stuff. There have been a few ‘aww’ and ‘that’s my cowbaby’, but other than that they’ve been kinda quiet. Usually when we get into a huge scene it can go either way, whether it’s upsetting or not. It’s really lovely when the commentary just… fucking damn it, we jinxed it, they’re back. Also they wanna know your father’s name and if Tony and Loki have hunted him down already to give that ass-hat a beating.”

Harley smirked a little.

“No that’s not fucking… I can’t… If I wanna stay user friendly I can’t splatter blood on screen, that just can’t happen. Is this content explicit or mature? I’m not sure yet, it probably should be, but I haven’t been able to take a look… Wait… is this chapter coming to an end? I can see it, darn it! Harley, call me, I wanna be back on your show and I really need some answers!”

Harley frowned after Wade as the anti-hero made his way to the elevator, but before he could say anything, J.A.R.V.I.S. sounded: “The Avengers have returned at the compound.”

“That’s it”, Deadpool shouted, “I knew it and probably something dramatic happened, so we get a point of view change again. Dammit! We were just getting somewhere, forming a bond that could maybe last, hopefully.”

“Don’t forget to change into your uniform on your way out, D-P!”, Harley reminded him and Wade sent him a kiss through the air.

“You’re the best, baby-boss, call me!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, this was a different view on things, I hope it was appreciated


	9. What the Future holds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers are back. What happened?

Loki looked pale, even in his Jötunn form. He looked like someone had dressed him and shoved him into the room while he should still be in the hospital somewhere. He glanced warily at the camera directly in front of him. Everybody could see the change from a frightened Jötunn into Loki Stark. The face he put on was not a confident one, but an impassive, as if nothing was of any importance.

“I can and will not give you a report today”, Loki said, looking to the side for a moment, where from anybody’s view Sharon and Darcy were hidden. Hill had not been able to make it yet and it did not matter anyway. “I will however tell you a story. My children used to tell me I was a good story teller and in contrast to what everyone on Earth might believe, that’s where my nickname ‘Silvertongue’ originated from.”

Loki took a deep breath. Today everything was going slow, but the reporters had shut up as he stepped onto the floor. It had not been graceful, it had not been princely, but at least he had not stumbled and fallen.

“I’ll skip to the end for a moment. My sons were never patient enough to listen to the whole story anyway unless they knew the end, I reckon some of you are the same.” A little bit of humour together with a smirk that got a few light laughs. “Our mission was a failure.” Gasps were heard. “While it was not a complete failure, we were still defeated.”

Loki shifted his stance and his hands trembled when he went to card through his hair. “To always win would quite honestly be boring. But it would also make us appear infallible. It would get to our heads. If the Avengers would always win, we would have nothing more to learn and above anything, having something to achieve is Human. And while not everyone on our team is Human, we are all Mortal.”

Loki looked around the room, not really fixing on any reporters. “The Avengers were wrong. We made a step to far, we overstepped. We thought it could be an easy win and would be in our best interests. What we did realise is where our boundaries are. Well, it should have been obvious, I mean, it’s there in the by-line: ‘Earth’s mightiest heroes’. We should have realised that we were bounded to _Earth_ and should only operate on our ‘own turf’. You know me, Loki, ‘God of Chaos’, I like to _push_ boundaries. Pushing them outside of the realms was, quite obviously, too far.”

Loki shifted on his legs again. “We went to chase someone. Someone we thought well in our boundaries to deal with, because he means to hurt the people of Earth. And please, there is no need to panic as of yet. The only way we could escape the battle with no lives lost, was the local military. It took the Avengers around 60 hours to travel there and one would assume it would take roughly the same time to travel home. The battle was almost an entire day. Lives were lost. Many on the side of the planet we were assisting. That planet did not ask for our help, but they still helped our injured after a complete genocide could inevitably be averted. We will forever be in their debt. Without their assistance, many of us would not have made it home.”

When audible gasps filled the room again, Loki shifted again, rolled his stiff legs and waited until the reporters had settled again. “We were nine Avengers out there. We did not take our new recruits as they are not as familiar with our blind spots yet and figuring that out on another planet would not be ideal, we would have surely lost them, not because of a failure on their parts, but our ability to cover _their_ blind spots.” Loki chuckled a little. “Sometimes in the midst of battle I would have this odd sensation of knowing that this would be the time where an arrow would fly in front of my head and hit an enemy in another person’s blind spot.”

Loki focused his gaze on the camera, as if speaking to Clint directly. “My friend, this is not a failure on your part, you could not have turned this battle in our favour enough so we could win it. Do not blame yourself for not being here, I know you will. We all had the freedom to choose to go into battle or to choose not to. It might have saved your hide not to go into battle.”

Loki turned to the room again. “We are all Mortal. We can all die. And while that means a whole different thing to Thor and I, it still comes with the same conclusion. Every one of us can die and will eventually do so. Death is what makes life worth living. Thor and I might be over a millennia old and might get called Gods because of that, but we are certainly not immortal. And while immortal does not mean that the person cannot be killed, being mortal means that eventually the person will die because of the bodies own failure. The older we get, the easier that failure. While Asgard sees dying in battle as something to achieve, I would rather avoid it, not only for my own person, but those of my teammates as well.”

Loki sighed. “In the midst of battle I was reminded of just how mortal Humans are. It was when one of the enemies grabbed War Machine and could wrap his whole hand around the other’s armour. He could have squeezed and easily killed our friend inside his suit of armour. The very thing protecting him could have become his death-trap. Of course, it would have been even easier to kill someone like this, if there were no armour at all and after that I found myself distracted, trying to keep an extra eye on the Falcon and Black Widow as well.”

Loki shook his head in frustration. “Becoming distracted in battle is not good for any of us. We should be able to work together like a well-oiled machine. In the end, when we were getting treated, one thing roamed in my head. A thing Steve would say, I was so sure of it: ‘Every time someone tries to win a war before it starts, innocent people die’. While in our head, the war started over three years ago, that monster was not attacking us. Last time, we took him by surprise in a defence position. We drove him back and stopped him from achieving his goal. At least what his goal at that time was. We stopped him on our own turf. At least, what Thor and I would call ‘our turf’, we stopped him within the realms and it appears that’s where we are safest. With the use of the Bifrost, travel for us is rather quick. We will not go chasing outside of the realms again. Goodness knows we learned that the hard way.”

Loki pushed himself physically away from the podium and Sharon started to stir at the side, before Loki even spoke his next words, sweat running down his forehead. “The really hard way”, Loki breathed uneasy on his feet, “He’ll slice me into pieces and feed me to his servants. He’ll kill us all, Norns, he’ll kill us…”

Sharon grabbed Loki and pushed him to the ground behind the podium, as people started shouting. She tried to make him focus, make him breathe. Loki could _hear her_ telling him that he needed to take deep breaths. Everything was swimming in front of his eyes and he vaguely noticed someone bigger at his side, Happy, if he was correct and Sharon helping him onto his feet, before the man carried Loki off. After that, Loki didn’t remember anything. Things became more and more blurred until in the end things just faded to black.

When Loki came back to, he wasn’t really conscious, he felt heavy, like something was pushing him down, making him lay heavily in the bed. He felt leaden. His breathing was slow and not really that deep, he felt like something was constricting him. A whimper escaped him.

“Loki?”, a muffled voice asked and shortly after that, Trip moved into his view. “How do you feel?”

“Bound”, Loki whispered, his eyes sliding closed again.

Trip couldn’t ask much more, because a door opened. Again, Loki noted, because it must have opened before Trip came in.

“Dad”, Harley said and then was suddenly on the bed with Loki.

“Harley, I really don’t think that’s good for Loki.”

“It’s fine”, Loki breathed and turned his head slowly to feel Harley’s locks tickle his neck. The boy curled closer affectionately.

“Loki, you had a massive panic attack”, Trip informed him.

“How bad?”

“Well, you were unresponsive for three days.”

“Not that”, Loki whispered, “What I said… How bad?”

“Pretty bad. If you wanted everyone to know it’s serious, you got that attention.”

“Didn’t”, Loki breathed and opened his eyes slowly again. With a frown he noticed Trip had curled his hand around Loki’s wrist, yet he hadn’t felt it. “Can’t feel that”, he quietly said and Trip looked up at him, worry on his face.

“But Sleip checked you over, said you were fine”, Harley protested.

“Physically”, Trip added towards Harley. “Can you make a fist for me, Loki?”

Loki tried, he really did, but it just wasn’t… It was like he couldn’t control his own body. He shook his head slowly. “Feels like I’m encased in granite.”

“Mental block I’d say. We were waiting for you to wake up before getting you to the compound. Transport is tomorrow.”

“Will I be alright again?”

“That remains to be seen.”

Loki looked towards Harley and nudged him with his chin. “What about your siblings?”

“They’re fine. Worried, but alright.”

“And you?”

Harley didn’t answer, but Loki saw him curl closer.

“It’s alright, Junior”, Loki whispered, “I’m here.”

“But you almost weren’t”, Harley said.

Loki looked to Trip. “Your heart stopped multiple times. If it weren’t for Sleipnir, you’d be dead.”

Loki felt himself paling and Trip nodded.

“I’ll leave you two. You better get some sleep, Harley. I’ll bring by some food later.”

Loki nodded weakly and Trip left the room.

“J.A.R.V.I.S. dim the lights please, and, if you haven’t already, tell the others I have awoken, but am currently not ready for a storm of visitors.”

The lights dimmed without comment and Loki looked down onto Harley.

“Take off your shoes, Junior, we’ll be here a while.”

Harley smirked at him and then took his shoes off, before slipping under the bedcover.

Loki woke sometime later through J.A.R.V.I.S.: “Master Stark, you appear to have guests. Should I alert the Avengers?”

Loki’s eyes adjusted to the light and he saw the Maximoff twins at the side of the room. “If they become hostile, J”, Loki said and looked the twins up and down, they looked wary, frightened. “I’m pretty sure, I won’t have to say this, as you came here on your own accounts, but I mean you no harm. Have you come to kill me? Or perhaps my child?”

Pietro scoffed. “We do not hurt children.”

Wanda smirked. “And killing those already on their death bed is not all that fun. Not even if it is a Stark.”

“Then what do you two want?”, Loki asked, his eyebrow raised.

“Is it true?”, Pietro asked, “That there’s a person that wants to kill all of us?”

Loki sighed. “That is classified. And you can watch what was said about it online.”

“What if we could help?”, Wanda asked, fiddling with her hands.

“You want to destroy the Avengers.” Loki shook his head. “Unless you got brainwashed at ten years old and somehow now have come to, that hate doesn’t just go away. I read your files. Before you volunteered to get your powers you were leading protests. Those might have been against Americans in your streets waging wars against innocent people, but with that comes your stance against the Avengers as well.”

“We only want Stark”, Wanda growled.

“And you got him. I’m right here.”

“ _Tony_ Stark.”

“Can’t help you with that.”

“He killed our…”

“Stop”, Loki interrupted her and Harley stirred at his side.

“Dad?”, he quietly asked.

“It’s alright, Junior, no need to be afraid.”

Harley looked up to him and then turned to look at the twins, flinching and grabbing a potato gun from under the bed. Pietro did not even try to stop him.

“It’s fine, Junior, we were just having a chat.”

“While you can’t defend yourself?”, Harley hissed.

Wanda frowned and then her eyes opened in surprise. “You are paralysed.”

“And you will not mess with any heads, unless you want grave consequences, unless you want people to see you not as the heroes, not as the vigilantes we’re trying to portray you as, but as the villains we can easily make you look like.” Loki took a breath and ignored Harley’s worried look. “We were not done with our conversation. Junior, could you please arrange the head part so I can actually take a better look at our guests?”

With a grumble, Harley got out of the bed and fumbled around with the controls, before Pietro came over and helped sit Loki up. Harley stared at him surprised and Pietro smirked back.

“Thank you”, Loki told him, as Harley sat back down, holding the potato gun no less tight.

“No problem.”

“We were still talking weren’t we, Wanda?”

“Stark killed our parents.”

“That is not true. What _is_ true, is that Tony designed the weapon that killed your parents. What _is_ true, is that those weapons should have never been sold to anyone but American military. But they ended up in the hands of very bad people with a grudge against Sokovia.”

“So who do we want dead if not him?”, Wanda asked, mockingly.

“May I ask you, what blame would you give anyone who designed a gun?”

“People who design weapons are not good.”

“And the people to design bullets?”

She frowned at that. “Even worse.”

“And the people who sell the weapons and bullets?”

“What do you want with this?”

“Did Tony give the command, _does_ Tony command where every weapon he _ever_ designed will be shot?”

She shook her head in confusion.

“Good. I’m glad we got that worked out. Tony did not _shoot_ that weapon. Tony did not even _sell_ that weapon. He designed that weapon, but in the line, who is the worst enemy? The one that fires the weapon or the one that designed it?”

“If he had not designed that weapon, our parents would still be alive”, Pietro argued.

“You can never know that for sure”, Loki told him. “Someone else could have designed a similar weapon. If people want to get weapons there are many people out there still producing them. The military might have been pissed, when Tony stopped production on weapons, but they still got their weapons in other places. They still do.”

“Last time you said that there were others who got hurt by his weapons and got away”, Pietro reminded him.

“Yes. Do you remember the glowing light in Tony’s chest? J.A.R.V.I.S., if you could please pull up a picture and the file, if Tony would allow it?”

A few moments later, details of Tony’s capture in Afghanistan plopped open in the room.

“In 2009 Tony was supposed to be killed on his trip to Afghanistan. Instead, he looked straight at his own weapon, before he barely got away with shrapnel in his chest. This would have killed him, if it weren’t for another prisoner, a surgeon that put a magnet and a car battery into Tony’s chest. That man is the only reason Tony is alive today. After that, Tony was able to build a miniaturised arc reactor and put it in his chest, even if that same thing would slowly kill him over time. He was supposed to build weapons for his captors, the Ten Rings, but he refused. They had boxes upon boxes of Stark Industries weaponry. After Tony got free, he immediately stopped all weapons production and went on to retrieve or destroy of those weapons sold illegally by Obadiah Stane. Sadly, at that point it was already far too late for your parents, as they had been dead for years.”

“And we should just believe you?”, Wanda questioned.

“Of course not. I want you to go and find the people that really fired those weapons. You would never believe a word from my mouth, you hardly believe any of the information before your eyes. But you are smart enough that you can figure it out.”

“And what should we do when we find them?”, Pietro asked.

“I am not here to give you commands. You’re adults, correct?”

They both nodded reluctantly.

“Then stand up for your own actions. You want to be heroes? I don’t think there’s a textbook. There is no one way to do things. Just one recommendation.”

“What?”, Wanda asked, with a scoff.

“Be truthful to yourself and protect each other. You’ve been keeping citizens out of it and that’s a good point for you. Find a place to calm yourselves. Your lives seem very angry. If you want to give Sokovia a brighter future, you cannot do this only with anger in your voice, you have to give them hope.”

Wanda shook her head. “Our ways are not wrong.”

“They might not be essentially wrong”, Loki amended, “but they can hurt you. I speak from experience. I am not good because I was born good. I don’t even consider myself good. You need to find a place in your heart for calm. Running into battle, just ripping with your powers can be dangerous. Both of your powers could not only be used to cause mischief, but hurt as well. My prophecy for you: Pietro might run into someone too fast by accident and Wanda might lose control of her power, both might kill hundreds. Respect your powers and learn control. I had to, I still have to. Training is vital, none can go without.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My next exams are on the 5th, 7th and 14th October, so the last chapter will be posted after I'm finally free of those and anxiously hoping I didn't fail any of them... Right now the spin-off seems to be mostly getting 5k chapters, which is amazing, but I'll see how well-liked the series even is, if it's worth posting, because Act 4 has an end and the spin-off doesn't have one yet.


	10. Iron Loki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Throwback time 😅

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, today's a very important holiday in Germany. It's been 30 years since the German unification. While I haven't even been born at that point, it still seems like it wasn't all too long ago. I'd compare it to the 4th of July for Americans, but I've never been in America to see the celebrations (I just hear stories)
> 
> Anyway, back to the story:

It did not take long for Loki to stand again. Though it wasn’t by his own energy, but rather with the help of the armour Tony had presented him with over two years ago, the one too heavy for battle, finally finding it’s use in helping Loki move around. It did not feel like Loki and it wasn’t controlled by Loki, after all, he still could not feel anything. It wasn’t J.A.R.V.I.S. that controlled the armour however, it was F.R.I.D.A.Y., learning to walk a body.

It took her longer to keep Loki stable, to keep him upright without the Trickster feeling like he’d fall forwards or backwards any minute now. Being walked around made Loki even more depressed and drove him only more into his head. F.R.I.D.A.Y. picked up on Loki’s mannerisms quickly and to those that did not know Loki was unable to move, he seemed perfectly himself.

F.R.I.D.A.Y. fed him, which was an odd sensation as well, the armoured hand carrying food to his mouth. When Tony noticed Loki’s dislike with the function, he went on to feed Loki himself. At times Loki felt like a burden, at other times another person that he’d forced onto his husband. Another child that Tony had to take care of.

He had to start regular therapy sessions again. On time Tanya asked him when he’d last tried walking, tried moving his hands and Loki had answered: “Do I need to, when I got this to walk and move for me?” Apparently that was the wrong answer.

Fury sometimes called, talked to him about the mission. They had less than a year. Loki told him, again and again, that the Mind Stone was taken care of by Doctor Cho, Princess Shuri and F.R.I.D.A.Y., that the Power Stone was taken care of by the Guardians and that a device to actually find the Aether was getting made by Tony and Bruce. There was nothing Loki had to do. Apparently that was wrong too.

A year after Loki had gotten spoken free, the Avengers wanted to throw him a party, wanted to make him happy, wanted to show him he had something to live for. In the middle of said party, Loki told F.R.I.D.A.Y. to open the suit. Everybody looked at Loki, as he stood for the entirety of twelve seconds, before his body gave out and he fell to the floor.

J.A.R.V.I.S. and F.R.I.D.A.Y. didn’t tell anyone anymore when the Maximoff twins came to see Loki. At the beginning the two seemed nervous, like someone would cut off their hand, if they so much as brushed back Loki’s hair. After a third or fourth visit, Wanda began to braid Loki’s hair and Pietro cleaned Loki’s face, arms and legs, or brought him food. They didn’t always speak and Loki only asked few questions, what they’d discovered, how things were going, if they were taking care of themselves. One time Loki asked if they trusted him. They said they did, now. He told them, ‘Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters’ might be a better place for them.

Seeing his children made Loki feel like a failure. Thor had brought Frigga and Odin by, who were both shocked by Loki’s apparent refusal to walk. Váli had bitten Odin, after they’d seen him again. That had brought a sudden laughter to the surface, but by the time anyone looked at him, his face had grown impassive again.

Loki hadn’t gone on missions for months and while his Seiðr was now fully charged again, there had been no use for trickery. Nobody had called on him. Not even by mistake, so it was an utter surprise to hear his voice spoken.

“Mister Loki, I need your help, please!”, a shaky voice spoke, and by the time Loki could place it, he was already in the suit and teleporting to the place shown before him.

Two strides later, while F.R.I.D.A.Y. informed him, that she’d sent the location to the Avengers, Loki was kneeling next to Benjamin Parker.

“Loki?”, the man questioned with a frown.

Loki didn’t answer, but he picked him up and teleported him to the nearest hospital. Turns out, the ambulance would not have gotten to him in time, and while Ben was in critical condition for a while, he eventually pushed through.

Loki was still pacing in front of the room, the soles of the armour almost silent, when May and Peter came running, with the Avengers in tow. Peter hugged him tightly and somehow that broke a wall inside Loki. He was shakily on his feet, after F.R.I.D.A.Y. had peeled the armour away and he leaned onto Peter a little, but he held him tight.

“He’ll be alright”, Loki whispered. “He’ll be alright. No need to lose the light in your eyes, young Peter, he will be alright. He will pull through.”

“Thank you, Mister Loki, thank you so much.” Loki carded a soft hand through the teen’s hair and pressed a kiss into it.

“No need for tears, young Peter, no need for that.”

“Loki, you should sit”, May told him and Loki nodded slowly.

Peter brought him to a chair at the side and perched himself right next to him, in a way that reminded Loki of Clint. “You’re my hero”, Peter whispered.

Loki shook his head. “You be your own hero.”

Peter’s eyes lit up and Loki looked up to where the Avengers were standing. May smiled at them and Tony stepped out of his own armour as well, before sitting between her and Loki.

‘Exhausted?’, he asked through their bond.

‘ _Tired’_ , Loki responded, _‘Moving takes so much energy.’_

Tony laid his head against Loki’s side and it did not take long for Loki to fall asleep in the middle of a bustling hospital.

When Loki awoke again and noticed, that for once in the past five months when he’d fallen asleep outside of his bed, he had not awoken in it, but rather place he’d fallen asleep in. It probably shouldn’t be as surprising that now that Peter was apparently inside the hospital room, Loki’s other side was occupied by James.

Loki’s arm was shaking as he was lifting it. Pain was searing through it and a soft wince shook James from his nap, turning fast enough that all other Avengers noticed as well.

“Alright?”, James asked.

“It hurts… so darn much.”

Loki knew James touch had to be soft, but the pressure, the warmth of skin against skin felt like needles were piercing him. Loki shook his head abruptly.

“Needles”, he pressed out when James’ hand left him. “F.R.I.D.A.Y.”, Loki commanded and a few moments later the armour encased him again, which made Tony stir at his other side.

“Lokes?”

Loki stood. “I’m not… running away, I promise. I’ll be in the Pillow Jail.” He looked around, warily. “Anyone want a ride?”

Nat and James stepped at his side and nodded towards the others and Loki teleported them directly into the Pillow Jail. Loki stumbled out of the suit and grabbed the upper railing, howling. Both assassins seemed to bite their lips, but held back any noises.

Panting, Loki slid down and then crawled into the Pillow Jail. Nat and James followed them shortly after, having to remove hard clothing parts first. They covered Loki in blankets, before curling themselves around his cocoon on either side.

“Does that still hurt?”, James asked.

“Not as much, it prickles.”

“Could be your body waking up”, Nat said. “Numbness and then hurt?”

Loki nodded. “Feels like that.”

“You’re going to get better”, James promised.

They were quiet for a while. It took almost half an hour when the other Avengers joined them and by that time most of the prickling already faded.

“So, what happened?”, Tony asked eventually, carefully rubbing Loki’s feet.

“Peter called me. I got there, Ben was shot, so I teleport him to the hospital. Peter hasn’t said anything?”

“I think he may have gotten a little scared. I think he was right there when it happened”, Sam told Loki.

“Who knew you being a kid’s guardian angel would be enough to make you stand again?”, Tony asked quietly, not waiting for a response.

“This will be a big story”, Nat said with a groan. “Loki running to save a random police officers life.”

“Well, we can shift the story. Say, Loki met them through the whole remembrance thing and they became friends. Just, how close they’ve become we should leave out”, Rhodey said and Loki nodded sleepily.

“I don’t want them in any trouble. Maybe we should make a number where people could text if they’re in an emergency. I think that could get us good attention”, Loki told them, “And we could connect that with the X-Men and the other vigilantes and heroes, and so on of New York.”

“What about outside New York?”, Tony asked.

“There, we cannot guarantee a fast response, but if they got a camera around the response might get faster. J.A.R.V.I.S. will filter it for real and fake emergencies. And maybe put the odd to the side. If people are in real emergencies, they might not be able to say clearly what is wrong.”

“We can’t advertise this wrong”, Rhodey pressed, “It could look like we’re trying to say the police isn’t fast enough or good enough at their job.”

Loki cursed silently. “You’re right. Cooperation with the police maybe, J.A.R.V.I.S. filters and then tells them, if we could get someone there faster.”

“Has to be close cooperation on development and all”, Tony said with a sigh.

Apparently Tony had learned how to pamper Loki enough, so the trickster was blissed out and eventually lost consciousness. Or well, it could have also been, that Loki just hadn’t eaten enough in a while. When Loki came to again, they had moved and were at the compound where the Avengers were apparently in a heated discussion with Hill, Coulson, Fury and surprisingly enough Xavier.

“They’ve been wanting to do this for years”, Fury growled, “This will make them do it.”

“What?”, Loki breathed and then broke into a coughing fit, which made everybody focus on him. Loki’s sons were at his side quickly and Sleipnir cleared his airways.

“Food and drink”, he directed his brothers, before he cradled Loki’s dazed head, letting a cold hand go towards his neck.

Loki exhaled heavily and his gaze met Sleipnir’s, even if Loki’s eyes were only half open.

“What’s going on?”, Loki asked in a whisper.

“You with us, Loki?”, Fury asked and actually looked slightly worried on screen.

“Yeah, yeah”, Loki spoke and then took a sip of the juice Narfi had brought.

“It’s called the ‘Superhuman Registration Act’”, Xavier informed him. “They’ve been trying to force it through for a while, calling it the ‘Mutant Registration Act’, but since more and more non-mutants have graced the scene, they renamed it.”

Loki rubbed at his head. “What does that mean?”

“It means”, Tony said, kneeling in front of Loki, “They want to force us to tell them about anybody that puts on a costume or has somehow different genes than the average human, whether they just want to live their lives or go on the street to fight crime.”

“And they want to deny us to go to places unless they allow us to”, Steve added.

“This is about me saving Ben by teleporting isn’t it? Because I saved a random citizen and don’t want anyone to know that he was in fact special.”

“We got the first poles”, Hill said, “And we decided to say that a nearby vigilante called you to transport the injured, as they would have had to expose themselves. Deadpool has promised to go on record, if we needed him to, he was conveniently spotted in the area at the time.”

“And there won’t be an app”, Loki said, “No matter how much the people of New York might need it. Correct?”

Tony nodded.

Loki sighed. “So what are we thinking? I have the feeling most are against.”

“They’re gonna lock us all up, if we even so much as put on armour and gonna take as much as they can to make us Humans.”

Loki laughed surprised. “And they want us to, what, just comply?”

“If we do that”, Tony told him, “They can use us whenever they want and can prevent us from doing our business.”

“So, what, they want to put manacles on me? Unlock them when they need me to fight? Like I’m their _pet_?”, Loki growled.

“We have to fight the S.R.A.”, Tony told him, “Not just because of you. They’ll put manacles on every one of your biological children. We all… We all _get_ why they want to do it, it’s logical, but the way they want to go about it…”

“That’s not right”, Steve continued and Tony nodded.

“We want to sign”, Tony amended, “but not this. We want to work with the government, but we don’t want to give up our rights to privacy. We can’t just assume everybody that’s born differently, everyone that has powers will use them. This is HYDRA, Project Insight all over again, just without the kill-order.”

“So then let’s fight it”, Loki said, slowly eating his ice cream that Váli had brought.

“We can’t just fight over a hundred nations on this”, Tony said.

Loki stood, gripping the cane Sleipnir handed him. “Why not? Unite all the Mutants, all the Inhumans, all the Aliens living on Earth, any hero that wants to step forward. Unite them peacefully and let’s make our case. We want to cooperate, we want to be on the side of the people. We want to be allowed to fight to protect, we want to be allowed to take quick action if we have the possibility to be in the area. We want to help, we want to save. Let’s discuss it. We do have time to spare, don’t we?”, Loki added with a smirk. “They can only rule over Earth and when our plan comes into action we’ll leave for a planet that has no government, no people left to stop us.”

The room was bustling. This wasn’t a press briefing, this was more like an address to the nation.

“Over five years ago, man, it seems for so much longer… Over five years ago, May 2010 I got ‘summoned’ to a senate hearing. They wanted my suit. The Iron Man Armour. I told them no. To be exact, I told them that I ‘privatised world peace’. To be honest, I got a bit ahead of myself, but the deal is and always will be, they can’t have what belongs to me. They honestly thought they were allowed to have it, my armour.” Tony smiled and then seemed to shrug apologetically. “Turns out, it was a very good thing that they didn’t get it, because Senator Stern turned out to be HYDRA.”

“That said”, Rhodey continued, “We don’t want to think the worst of the government, or people working for it, people in power. I’m in the Air Force and I will always do my duty.”

“We can’t be forced to fight a fight that isn’t ours”, Steve said. “And we won’t be forced silent.”

“Some of us, like my husband and I”, Loki told the people around, “have family. And we’re standing in front of a hard choice. If my children, biologically gifted with similar magic to mine, do not sign the ‘Superhuman Registration Act’, they will be hunted and put in chains. And if they do sign it, any government can use them against their will. We’re not the only family with children that have powers, but we might be one of the few that have the option to leave Earth.”

“This bill”, Sam stated, wearing his Falcon armour, “Will unveil our identities and while some, like Tony are okay with that, not all are. We would register for protection, as the bill claims, but or friends and family might not.”

“If I sign this bill, as it is”, James said, with a deep scowl, “They could take my arm.”

“If I sign this bill, the way it is now”, Bruce added, “They could experiment on me.”

“And me”, Thor told them.

“Me as well”, James said.

“Me too”, Loki added.

“That goes for me as well”, Steve told the people.

“And even me”, Tony closed.

“Everything that is classified would be out in the open”, Nat said. “I’d be fine with that, most of us would, but we have more to lose than people knowing how bad we were in the past. There are things the world doesn’t need to know. And it wouldn’t be fair to us, if only _our_ secrets come to light.”

“Why not everyone?”, Clint asked and gave a short laugh, to make sure that everyone understood it as sarcasm. “Everyone has something they’d rather not want the world to know. We don’t want a dystopian future where every step that we take is reported.”

“What we want”, Trip added, “is to work with the government. We want to work on a bill that everyone can agree with. We know some countries want to bar heroes, we know some countries want heroes dead. We don’t agree with that, but we want to see if we can come to an agreement.”

“As of now”, Sharon continued, “we, the Avengers, are not associated with S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore. The Avengers are privatised. We give out jobs to people in the community, especially the ones that could be barred from certain jobs if this bill gets passed. We might not have rooms for everyone, but we do have a lot of jobs for them. For the time being, it does not look like the affected people can be stopped from renting apartments or buying houses.”

“We are not animals”, Thor told them, “We are beings just like you. We are mortal, just like you. Don’t hunt us and don’t put us in chains. This bill is outrageous. While I am not of Earth and my primary residence is not on Earth either, I _do_ wish to be able to fight _for_ the people on Earth. I _do_ wish to be allowed to _protect_ Earth. We’re standing together on this.”

“What would have happened, if the Avengers wouldn’t have been allowed to act in 2012?”, Loki asked. “A few might think hundreds, thousands would have died. The truth is, Earth might have fallen. New York would be a wasteland as it got hit by an atomic bomb. The wormhole would not have closed and nobody would have flown the same nuke that could have destroyed New York into the wormhole, destroying the Chitauri’s mothership. While I might have died, my life was never necessary for the Chitauri to take over New York.”


	11. Preparation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Making the last preparations before...

“So”, Loki asked quietly, while they were all sitting around the living room, him this time without the armour and only with his cane, that had still been around from his use after being blinded while pregnant with Runa, “What now?”

“We wait”, Rhodey said, as if that was already decided.

“How long?”, Loki wanted to know.

“These things take time”, Nat reminded him.

“We still need to prepare. How much have you done, while I was…”

“Out of commission?”, James joked with a smile, before shrugging. “We kept up training, kept up on missions.”

“How are the armours looking?”, Loki asked towards Tony.

“It’s coming along”, the other told him, “Working with new materials, with lighter materials.”

“And the thing with the mind control?”, Loki questioned further.

“Well, we got a system”, Tony told him with a shrug.

“And the Mind Stone?”

“You really want to know everything”, Tony said with a short laugh, “It’s coming along. And before you ask, the searching thingy is still getting calculated. If it has to work through layers and layers of Earth…”

“Technically it doesn’t have to work”, Loki told him.

“Yes, technically it does”, Tony corrected him, “because if I don’t believe it and you don’t believe it, he won’t believe it either. Also funny thing that Shuri discovered while experimenting with the Mind Stone that the energy it emits can actually be sucked up and redistributed with vibranium. She also said something about using that for a few new armour designs…”

“Ours?”

“Well, not really, doesn’t seem so, they’re not handing out vibranium like it’s Christmas. An arm for Jamie, heck yeah, but armour for all Avengers? Nope, not even close. She did think about putting me and Rhodey in one, because it works best if it’s a whole armour, but she has to discuss that with her king.”

“Oh and we did think about nanites”, Bruce added, “Even if that’s darn expensive, but it could be very handy.”

“Huh, handy”, Tony repeated with a smirk.

“With a twist of a ring?”, Loki asked with a short laugh.

“A really fun and great idea at the time, but a ring can’t store nearly enough nanites.”

“And it probably won’t be ready in time”, Bruce added with a sigh.

Loki frowned. “Why? You got six months?”

“Lab time”, Tony commented, throwing his arm up in exasperation.

“And him having to take care of Stark Industries.”

Loki groaned. “The smaller evil?”, he asked and everyone around the room frowned.

“What do you mean?”, Tony questioned.

“Would Pepper running the company till we’re done with Thanos ruin it? Would she run it into the ground?”

“I don’t _think_ so”, Tony argued, “but lately she’s been doing all kinds of things I never thought she’d do. Like being jealous of my husband and threatening him.”

“J.A.R.V.I.S., could you keep her in line enough that S.I. will still be alright in a year’s time?”

“I believe so, Master Stark.”

“A year?!”, Tony asked loudly.

“Just working with an upper limit that I’m hopeful we won’t cross.”

“You don’t think we’re gonna be done in a month, do you?”, Sam stated rather than really asked.

“I am certain that it will take a long time to search an entire planet for the Aether. It won’t just be in a great big hill with arrows pointing at it.”

“We could make multiple search troops”, Tony told Loki.

“Well, while that’s a great idea, you will be on a science binge for the next few months, getting our armours to the best they can be, working with anyone and everyone you might possibly need, dear husband.”

“Science binge?”, Tony asked, and his face tinged a soft shade of pink. “What about you and the family and the team?”

“You’ll be in for a mandatory team training every weekend, I suggest, Rhodey, correct me later if that doesn’t work out and I’ll bring the family by every time J.A.R.V.I.S. suggests that it is a good time.”

“A weekly mandatory team training would be good”, Rhodey agreed, “For all of us. Only a few hours until we’re all exhausted, then maybe a spa treatment and a group thing afterwards, whether it be watching movies, playing games or baking together.”

Around the room agreement sounded and Loki smiled. “I’ll keep up my physical therapy but I’ll join the mandatory team trainings as well, even if I just sit on the bench, because I’m already too exhausted from therapy.”

Rhodey nodded. “That will be fine. The Guardians said they’ll be setting up shop here around New Year, if they can make it. They collected the Power Stone and apparently ran into a hero that’s been helping out other planets and told her about Thanos. They’ll be keeping in contact, she won’t be joining them on their journey, because she still wants to do her job. The Guardians will continue theirs as well, but will probably be back once a month in the beginning, and hopefully stay longer at the end.”

“That sounds like a plan”, Loki said.

“Gamora also picked up her sister”, Rhodey informed him, “She apparently put it into her head that she’d be able to infiltrate Thanos’ ship and kill him, but Gamora convinced her to stay here with us and train to defeat him together.”

“How’d she do that?”, Loki wanted to know.

“She most likely promised her that we’d let her do the killing strike”, Thor told Loki.

Loki nodded, convinced. “Yeah, that would do it.”

A few minutes, nobody said anything, until Tony got up. “I guess then… Bruce you want to join me for a science binge?”

Bruce smiled and got up as well.

Loki stood shakily. “I’ll accompany you there.”

Tony smirked and then looked towards Rhodey. “Platypus?”

“I’ll be joining you later, Tones”, his friend said.

“So”, Loki asked quietly, “are you happy?”

“About sciencing the shit out of this?” Tony grinned a little.

“That’s not a word.”

“It is, when I say it is.”

Loki leant against Tony and the other caressed his neck lovingly.

“I am happy you’re letting me. I’m just scared to lose control and sleep and all that.”

“J.A.R.V.I.S. will remind us of that as well. I’ll pull you to bed every now and then.”

“With extra steps?”, Tony asked, smirking.

“Every now and then”, Loki promised, leaning down to catch Tony’s lips in a chaste kiss.

“Eternally”, whispered Tony as they pressed their foreheads together.

“Eternally”, Loki told him. “Make me proud.”

“For you, sweetheart? Anything.”

“I’ll be taking care of the kids and will be studying a few spell books.”

“And I’ll be getting a few kids here, I’m thinking Shuri and Harley, maybe Peter.”

“You know there’s this thing called school, right?”

“That’s a lie”, Tony decided and Loki laughed joyfully.

“Have fun with the kids then.”

Tony smirked and kissed Loki softly. “You too.”

Things after that were a bit more regulated, a bit calmer. While Loki’s sons did most of the actual taking care of the girls, Loki spent a lot of time with them. Knowing that he hadn’t failed his children helped with his recovery too, though it did make things awkward, as the power dynamic changed. He learned to trust his sons and realised that the decision to leave them on Earth, protecting the other children calmed him somewhat.

And with that, the twins’ birthday came and went, the holidays happened, and before late, it was already 2016. Wanda and Pietro were still visiting and with special allowance, could attend the mandatory training. They’d be joining them in their fight, if all went right.

The Guardians built a place for themselves at the compound and Rocket even engaged in science sessions with Tony, finding a friend in the other ‘mad scientist’. By Runa’s third birthday, Loki rarely needed to use his cane, only for a little stability at times.

One odd event happened, where Loki finally had to do something he was not overly fond of. He had to do what he’d promised the Ancient One, telling an injured Stephen Strange, that he could not help him. The other yelled at him, figuratively cursing him, telling him that he’d been on their side, that he’d supported their stance against the S.R.A., vowing to end them all, in a fit of rage.

On a different note, letting Tony travel to Shuri’s lab apparently did the trick on the nanites. By the time the remembrance event came around again, both Rhodey and Tony had new armour made out of vibranium nanites, after Shuri already helped Nebula with her replacements.

  
  


On May 4, the Avengers and their friends and families met again, just like the past year.

Loki knew he had to make the announcement, but he couldn’t bring himself to, as he saw the children playing together. When dinner rolled around, he couldn’t put it off any longer. He pinged with his spoon against his glass and stood. A small chuckle went through him, when the eyes focused on him.

“I’ve been dreading this all day”, Loki said. “This might not be Thanksgiving, but I wanted to thank you all anyway. We all did a lot in the past year, we’ve come far. We got hurt, but we stood up again, not just the people in this room that fight aliens as a job.”

Loki looked towards Ben and the other nodded. “This year will be hard again. I’m sure most of you know, because most of us have revealed it before. We’ll be taking the battle to space again. I hope, I dearly hope, that next year we will be just as many and will not have lost any.”

“I can’t promise we will all make it, Norns, I could never promise that, but I can promise, that it will all be worth it. There might not be glory at the end, people singing our praises, but it will all be worth it, to save them from what could come.”

“To a brighter, a promising future”, Loki finally landed on and raised his glass. Around the table, others followed him. When Loki sat back down, Tony softly took his hand and pressed a kiss against it.

The rest of the evening seemed a little more mellowed. The children still seemed happy, most not recognising the significance of Loki’s words.

And then suddenly, only a bit over a month later, Banner’s biggest foe stood at the entrance of the Avengers facility.

“Mister Secretary”, Tony greeted in a mocking voice, “To what do we owe this _intense_ pleasure?”

“I’m here on behalf the S.R.A.”, Thaddeus Ross told them.

“You’re in charge of them now?”, Loki questioned. Not every Avenger was in the conference room, but they could watch and say stuff. Bruce had decided to be out of the room as well.

“Yes”, Ross told them with a smile.

Loki took a heavy breath and turned away, shaking his head. “Where’s the revised version?”, he then questioned.

“You already read it”, Ross challenged and Loki laughed loudly.

“You think us fools?”, he challenged.

“The things you addressed, they won’t happen”, Ross said.

Loki looked at the attending Avengers with raised eyebrows and Tony smirked a little, as Loki silently told the others to take a seat. One after another they sat.

“And what are we to do?”, Loki asked, turning and laying his hands at his back, “Just _trust_ you?”

“Yes.”

Loki laughed aloud again and shook his head in disbelief. “Trust the person still hunting our friend?”

“J.A.R.V.I.S., we are streaming this, aren’t we?”, Tony asked.

“We are Sir, and the numbers watching are rising by the minute.”

“Fantastic.”

Ross paled a little and Loki sat on the edge of the table. “You really are daring, Ross. Coming here, speaking only to us, after not changing a thing. You truly believe that you can get away with that. We are not alone. And we are not the only people you should be speaking to.”

Loki pressed a button and around the room windows turned dark and into screens revealing dozens of costumed heroes, Mutants, Inhumans, Aliens and Humans alike. The front screen was left blank.

“J.A.R.V.I.S., be a dear and get President Ellis on the line.”

“Certainly, Prince Loki.”

Loki leaned back as more and more screens plopped open, even the Guardians showed their faces, together with their new acquaintance.

“What is this?”, President Ellis asked from the front screen.

“Mister President”, Loki drawled, “So nice of you to join us. But well, you are just one of the leaders of Earth, so this, is just a start. J, wake-up-call around the world, please.”

Loki could practically feel the smirk of Tony at his back.

“I am sorry, President Ellis, that I had to bring you here, but apparently you do not appreciate us. Appreciate how we put our lives on the line to protect your people. Your ‘Secretary of State’ just revealed to us, that he blatantly stepped into our facility wanting us to sign the same document we already opposed over _half a year ago_. We will not trust him, we do not trust him to not abuse it, actually, we do not trust anyone to not abuse the S.R.A. the way it is written now.”

Loki relaxed his posture as other leaders of the world plopped onto the screen, along with, oh, what a surprise, King T’Chaka. “Is that everyone, J.A.R.V.I.S.?”, he asked after a while.

“That would be everyone, Prince Loki.”

“Fun. While I’m speaking in Allspeak, none of you need a translator, so I’ll be blunt. Some of us oppose the idea of the Superhuman Registration Act. We will _not_ be put in chains and we will _not_ wait for anyone to _approve_ us saving lives. We want to work with the nations to change the Superhuman Registration Act, but for the time being, none of us have been asked what we want. What we _want_ is _not_ to have to reveal our identities, _not_ to be told where and where _not_ to go and most of all, we do _n_ _o_ _t_ want to be experimented on. You _will not_ take our blood to find out more about us, and you _will not_ take it to ‘make more’ of us. We might not all be Human, but we’re still your citizens. Well, most of us at least to some of you.”

Loki shrugged, before continuing: “Yes, bad things can still happen when we step onto the field and we should definitely not decide what the world needs on our own, but when we step onto the field, it is to _save_ , to _prevent_ disasters in time. The people hurt by our actions are significantly less, than how many _would have_ gotten hurt if we had _not_ stepped up. Banning us from stepping up will not ban people from attacking your countries, from hurting your people. Forcing us to step down, will land your countries in _chaos_. I cannot promise that, I cannot guarantee that, I am no seer. Your police forces, your military are probably very equipped, but there are bigger threats out there than normal Humans with normal Human weapons. That’s why you want to enslave us with the _Super_ human Registration Act. I decline.”

Behind him stood, one after another the present Avengers. “We decline”, they said and J.A.R.V.I.S. must have given the option to decline to the other heroes that are only virtually there, because the screens tinged red, with a big white ‘DECLINE’ on it.

“J.A.R.V.I.S., give the viewers the option to vote on the streams”, Tony said and with holograms over the table, it showed the percentages of how many viewers declined as well. It was never one hundred percent, but it was always over ninety.

Loki looked towards Ross. “I think, not only were you unwelcome from the start, but you have some work to do, if you ever want this vote to be in your favour, Secretary Ross.”

The next week the Avengers made the last preparations for the trip, which included Tony visiting the Parkers to not only give Peter an internship at Stark Industries, starting when the summer vacation will start, but one that includes giving the young, almost newly enhanced a suit fit for a real hero. Introducing him to some of the heroes of New York went surprisingly well, even though the teen didn’t want to reveal his age or name, which worked well enough as Tony included a voice changer within the suit.

Deadpool took on the new hero easily enough, promising to look out for him while the Avengers were away and the first week of them partnering up brought great results. Deadpool made sure Spider-Man knew his limits and Spider-Man gave Deadpool a bit of morality. Their humour was also compatible and Spider-Man did not seem to have any problem with Deadpool’s voices.

Harley was a bit surprised, but glad that Peter would be joining him in the tower at least a few days a week. Like they’d planned Harley would be assisting the heroes of New York. Like Spider-Man he would have a voice changer, more to protect his age than his identity. He took the screenname T-J-M, Trickster Junior Mechanic, showing he was not only Loki’s, but also Tony’s kid.

A team from the Mutants would be manning the Avengers facility while they themselves weren’t on Earth. Logan would be at the front, the Avengers had decided together. If Ross would come back there again, try to take over the facility, they’d be well prepared. Nobody actually believed Ross would stand down, just as nobody believed that the man and the other nations could come up with a revised version of the Superhuman Registration Act that they’d be inclined to sign.

And then, when all plans were ready, and the Avengers packed to leave, Peggy Carter died.

United, the Avengers attended the service, without masks, but veils by Loki for the ones that needed it, which would make even J.A.R.V.I.S. unable to recognise them on photos.

James and Steve were allowed to carry the casket, burying their last friend from the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got the results for 2 of 3 exams back and while one is good, the other really isn't, so my mood to write is down, I'm not sure if I'll finish the spin-off and/or post it... 😔 Really sorry


	12. We Meet Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The journey and fight to end Thanos

The mood was low when their journey on Svartalfheim began. Shuri had gotten instructions to start on the Android with Doctor Cho. They’d both been given free access to the Avengers Facility and once they were done, the Android would go to assist Jane after a first few weeks of tests. Jane would then report back to Doctor Cho, Shuri, and via a special mobile device the Avengers, documenting the Android’s milestones and any information it might obtain, to whomever it was most useful.

The most annoying part of being on Svartalfheim had to be that there was almost no flowing water. Electricity they had, not just with portable arc reactors, but water was almost a luxury. Svartalfheim wasn’t waterless by far, but it greatly lacked in the locations they were travelling, using warships lent by Asgard. Together with them having to land the ships if they wanted to use those, it was quickly decided that it was not worth the time spent testing the water if it was safe to touch and consume for humans and other races alike. Every now and then Loki would use his Jötunn side to create ice which they then carefully heated. Thankfully Loki did not need his Seiðr to do that, or he’d have been in utter trouble by now.

Their journey was slow, although it would have been much slower via foot. Often twice a day, Pietro, having taking on the name ‘Quicksilver’, offered to run around the planet with the search device. Again and again Loki had to tell him that the device could not take his speeds and they had no knowledge if Svartalfheim did not have any hidden monsters left.

Surprisingly enough, Wanda, who had gladly taken on the name ‘Scarlet Witch’, had almost become Loki’s shadow. They trained together and while their powers were quite different, sparing together helped her learn the range of her powers and how to best and most humanly use them.

Before long an additional month had passed and somehow Tony had built a second device in the bigger ships’ lab. They were not overly happy to split, but with coordinated maps and improved ships and communication, they split their search team, Loki coordinating one team, while Thor took care of the other. Loki would travel over once a week, filling their barrels with clean water again, but otherwise they wouldn’t meet up again.

Two weeks short of the second month ending, the Guardians configured another search device into their ship and took off on their own as well, before having stayed around Loki’s team, as they had the least enhanced people on their ship.

Their travel was still slow and Loki was glad Trip and Clint both took easily to flying their ship, as he was growing weary of it. Occasionally, the dark lands of Svartalfheim got a little more interesting with them flying over ship graveyards. Clint and Loki stood a bit closer at those times, remembering the ship Loki had destroyed and what had happened afterwards. That also led to Loki and Tony spending nights holding each other, not wanting to recall those events too closely.

By the time the third month came to a close, fights had started within teams and they had to be separated within the ships. The only ship seemingly not having that problem was that of the Guardians.

And then there was the fact, that rumours were starting that the device didn’t work.

By the end of September, now well in their fourth month, pranks started on Loki’s ship. Whether it was Clint, Tony, Pietro or Loki nobody could say, but it lightened the mood a little, releasing the knot that had seemingly tightened around them.

Wanda had now also found friends in Nat and Sharon, which somehow made Loki feel proud. One time, Tony called the twins Loki’s kids and they didn’t disagree, just laughed. Pietro was ganging up with Clint, who seemingly found his own parenting release in the young man, although both Loki and Clint would deny it being that.

On an otherwise unspectacular day at the end of October, at least according to the updates from Jane, the team on Loki’s ship was awoken, or in Clint’s case shaken from a daze, by a sharp shrill.

Loki fell out of the bed and cursed loudly, before switching into his gear and running towards the cockpit, helping Clint land the ship. After tuning down the shrill of the signal, he activated communication.

“Thor, Gamora, come in, we got a ping, are landing to get a better signal.”

“Confirmed”, Gamora quickly answered, “Flying to your location as fast as we can.”

“We are on our way as well”, Thor promised.

“Acknowledged”, Loki told them.

A yawning Nat joined them, followed by Sharon and Trip. “What’s going on?”, Nat asked.

“We found it”, Loki told her, “Or at least we _believe_ we did.”

“I’ll call Fury”, Nat said, quickly seeming more awake.

“I’ll take Coulson”, Trip decided.

“Guess I’ll go ahead and call Hill”, Sharon commented, as if she picked the short straw.

“Heimdall will probably inform the Æsir, so I’ll be calling Shuri, because of the Android, it’s in Wakanda for maintenance. Clint, can you call the compound?”

“Sure thing, let’s get the Mutants on the move.”

Loki nodded and they all stepped to separate corners of the ship, making their calls.

“Up, up, up”, Loki called to get the last four people on their ship to get up. Then he started the playlist usually blaring in some parts of the ship in the middle of the day. “We only got _two_ bathrooms, dears, and they already have a queue in front of them. If you don’t want to be last, you better get up.”

By far not a surprise, Pietro was the first in line, of the ones that had not gotten up yet. Wanda was the next one out the door and Rhodey was dragging Tony after him. Still, all people on their ship where thoroughly clean and in their armour or their recognisable outfits, before the other ships even arrived.

Outdoors, the team measured the signal they had gotten again and rammed a pole into the ground where they got the highest readings. There was a bad feeling in Loki’s chest. This could all go terribly wrong. But they had made their decision and it was time to get things rolling. They’d get the Time Stone last, and only if necessary, it was protected by the Ancient One and her sorcerers. Even the Android would not get any further than Asgard’s borders, where it would be protected by Frigga and Heimdall, who could not leave his post.

After Tony changed a few things on the search device, he showed Loki the readings again. “This will take a few days at least till we’ve reached it”, Loki calculated, a little thankful for it.

“And even then, it could be warded heavily”, Wanda acknowledged and Loki nodded.

“Guess we’ll wait for the Guardians so they can do it with their machines”, Rhodey decided.

“Alright”, Loki said with a nod. “Let’s get food and train a bit.”

Things around the table were tense and silent.

“We will do our very best”, Loki quietly said, “We can only do that, nothing more. And whether or not we will lose anyone, we will bring everyone home.”

The others nodded. Somehow over the time, they had all acknowledged that some might not come back alive, though that was in _no way_ acceptable. They would have Asgardian forces join them, and by now, Quill had probably gotten in contact with a lot of old Ravager friends. Many Mutants would come to Svartalfheim as well, as soon as Heimdall might spot Thanos’ ship. The call out to the Ravagers could get intercepted by Thanos and that was what they inevitably wanted to achieve, lure him to them. He must have noticed that they had somehow, although a bit more scattered, gathered four Infinity Stones.

Thor greeted them happily and the Avengers drifted to each other like two parts of a big family. Even if they’d been chatting every day, they still had many stories to share. Even Sif came to Loki in one moment, just to tell him: “I should have chosen your ship.”

Loki laughed aloud at that and to see Sif just hint at a smile on her own face, was enough to brighten his mood some more. Now that they’d found the spot, they could easily spread beyond their quarters and make camp.

When the Guardians arrived, Loki started preparing a feast. Rocket quickly put their ship to work, making the drilling automatic, while they ate and shared more stories. In the evening, though it was hard to tell on a planet that literally had ‘black’ in its name, they all trained together again, before going to bed at a shifted schedule.

The Asgardian forces arrived the next day, bringing food and medical materials, also a few items for sorcerers that Frigga had gathered for Loki in an attempt to soothe their relationship. Loki was even tempted to do so, as he examined the materials and begun to weave spells at his hearts content. The forces made their camp a bit further away to not get into the way of the others. The Asgardians also brought news that other armies around the realms would join them over the next week or so.

On the third day of drilling, the first Ravagers arrived, greeting the Guardians joyfully enough and they were introduced to the plan. They called more people as well, sending signals out as far as they could reach. The same day, Loki and a few other Avengers tried meditating with Bruce. It did not help much, but they had a sense of community again.

On the fourth day, more Ravagers arrived, again getting clued in. Loki built wards, more and more, it was all he could think to do while anxiously waiting. At the end of the same day, or maybe already early in the morning of the next, forces from Alfheim and Vanaheim joined them and things got tense again. Thor and Loki tried to do peace-talks. In the end, the easiest way to handle all the forces was separating them into different camps.

The armies did not want to be led by Odin, but in the end accepted getting updates through Tony, in the role of Loki’s consort. The other realms were very well aware that Loki was not Odin’s son, ever since the trial in 2012, when Loki had gotten brought back to Asgard by Sif, and had now a very different view of Odin’s power over Loki, seeing it as the blackmail that it had always been. And while they still did not want to trust Loki’s views up front, they did trust his choice in self-chosen companions. Tony with his quick humour became quickly appreciated among the warriors.

There were rumours that Muspelheim and Jotunheim had also been informed, while Niflheim had stayed uninformed. Nidavellir had made powerful weapons for the forces, especially the Æsir warriors, as compensation for their help in defending their more peaceful realm.

By the sixth day they still weren’t through to the Aether and Loki had started shielding the masses of Ravagers. They somehow made him less nervous and also calmed the rest of their search party, while they most times tried to keep away from the armies as they reminded them that this was indeed a war.

  
  


A week after they had found the signal, Thanos’ massive ship, the ‘Sanctuary Ⅱ’ arrived outside the atmosphere. Ominously she stood in the darkness, the bright red light the only sign of it being active and the Avengers looked up, in awe and panic alike. This would be the end, a horrifying, terrifying end. The Ravagers were the swiftest to act, all the while the grounded Avengers had to wait for what would happen. It felt like hours until four ring-like spaceships detached from the warship and started dropping even smaller ships, that looked like spear-tips or very spiky pyramids.

Then the screaming began. The Maximoff twins were up on their feet, trying desperately to get forces out of the way of the falling ships, while the Ravagers tried shooting them to pieces before they even reached the ground. Loki was teleporting from place to place and Heimdall was seemingly bringing warriors back to the Bifrost before they could get crushed by the drop-ships. Like enraged bees from a beehive, Necrocrafts and Chitauri chariots exited the ‘Sanctuary Ⅱ’.

“Oh, fuck”, Tony whispered over the comms.

“Did we know about those?”, Clint asked, and Loki could feel the prayer on his lips.

“We knew his ship was huge and we knew he had other ships”, Tony told him, “But I guess Gamora forgot to clue us in just how many ships he had, how big his forces were and all that.”

“This makes last year look like an absolute shit-show”, Sam told them and then whooped when the Guardians shot down a drop-ship.

“I’m just really glad I updated my will before we came here”, Tony told the others.

“I’m really glad Aunt Peggy doesn’t have to witness us fail”, Sharon mentioned.

“Are you all really doing Thanksgiving while we are working on protecting alien soldiers?”, Pietro said and got a few laughs from the others, making the tension fall away.

**[Iron Man]:** “Hey, J.A.R.V.I.S., why don’t you give us a throwback, how about ‘Holding Out for a Hero’ by Bonnie Tyler?”

**[Hawkeye]:** “Are you really making a Shrek reference right now?”

**[Iron Man]:** “Come on, you can’t deny we might need the tiny bit of adrenalin right about now.”

**[Snowflake]:** “Dear, I need a lot right now, a reminder that I could be watching a fun movie right now instead of this is not one of them.”

**[War Machine]:** “He’s right. We need a plan.”

**[Thor]:** “Heimdall will allow the rest of the forces to join once all drop-ships have been released and have either landed or been destroyed.”

**[Snowflake]:** “I would guess that will take a while won’t it?”

**[Iron Man]:** “I guess we might need… ouch, dammit Nat, uncalled for.”

**[Snowflake]:** “Thank you Nat.”

**[Black Widow]:** “My pleasure.”

Loki stared up at the ships. Yeah, they might need a hero, especially as he saw at least half a dozen Leviathans already departing the ‘Sanctuary Ⅱ’.

**[Iron Man]:** “Aren’t you glad you didn’t have to face those in 2012, Platypus?”

**[War Machine]:** “Really glad, yeah, Ten Rings in Hong Kong was a lot less life-threatening.”

**[Bruce Banner]:** “Guess it’s time to become angry.”

**[White Wolf]:** “And time to figure out where the higher ground is.”

**[Iron Man]:** “I’m so proud we showed him Star Wars.”

**[White Wolf]:** “That wasn’t you. That was Shuri and Harley and their memes.”

**[Falcon]:** “Uhh, Burn!”

Loki felt himself get snatched up by Pietro and quickly held onto the younger man.

“No getting distracted”, the light-blonde told him.

“Well, it’s pretty easy to”, Loki confessed and Pietro snapped a finger against his head.

“Still not the time old man.”

They watched as the apparently last few drop-ships crashed to empty ground, shot down by a couple of Ravager ships. Loki sighed with a little relief. Those were a lot less angry aliens to deal with, if they all died within the ruins of those ships. Pietro flicked a finger at his head again.

“Focus.”

Focus, yes, that might be good. Might be useful, after all, the battle had already begun. “Get your sister, have her back, protect each other”, Loki told him and Pietro nodded, before rushing off. Swiftly, Loki bound his hair back, while he teleported towards the meeting spot of the Avengers.

“Everything good?”, Tony asked him, his hand curled around Loki’s wrist.

“Distracted, told the kids to stick together.”

“Good, they shouldn’t lose each other.”

Loki turned back to watch the Leviathans approach, before pressing his and Tony’s foreheads together.

_‘Eternally_ _’_ _, Loki told him._

‘Eternally’, Tony spoke back before they stepped away from each other and Loki quickly went to James’ side.

“Have you chosen your perch?”, he asked, and James nodded, holding his binoculars out to Loki and then moving his head so that Loki would see where he had chosen.

**[War Machine]:** “Alright, everyone, you know the deal. Kill the bad guys, make sure to alert Quicksilver and Snowflake if you need to be transported or repositioned. Partner up, I don’t want to see anyone alone out there. Falcon, you’re with me.”

**[Iron Man]:** “Then I’m with Thor.”

**[Hawkeye]:** “I’ll be with White Wolf.”

Loki nodded to him and teleported the two away.

**[Black Widow]:** “Carter, with me?”

**[Agent Carter]:** “Gladly.”

**[Agent Triplett]:** “How ‘bout it, Cap?”

**[Captain America]:** “It would be my pleasure.”

**[Hulk]:** “Snowman mine.”

**[Snowflake]:** “I’ll be right back, big green.”

Loki brought the snipers extra ammunition while they were already starting to shoot at the flyers. Then he teleported right in front of the Hulk and laid his blue hand into the huge green one. Hulk grinned softly and then pointed with his other hand towards the middle of the battle grounds. Loki followed his gaze and then took out his binoculars, before teleporting them both there.

For a moment he let himself get distracted while Hulk heaved him up on his shoulders, where he could ward off aerial attacks while Hulk smashed the grounded aliens. In the distance, Loki could see the Bifrost crashing down multiple times and he had to keep the shield above them steady, as the ‘Sanctuary Ⅱ’ started firing on them.

**[Snowflake]:** “I guess we’re a big target, all green and blue in masses of grey.”

**[War Machine]:** “Keep up the good work, Thor, Iron Man, can you help them out for a bit?”

**[Iron Man]:** “We’re on our way, might take a bit, tell us when it becomes too much.”

**[Snowflake]:** “Will do.”

With his shield-hand, Loki held onto the spell, while he started firing off ice-spears with his sword-hand. Hulk laughed joyfully under him, though Loki himself did not feel all that happy about what was happening. With strained eyes he stared up at the ‘Sanctuary Ⅱ’.

“ _I need a hero_ ”, Loki quietly sung, “I’m holding out for a _hero_ till the end of the night. He’s _gotta_ be strong and he’s _gotta_ be fast, and he’s _gotta_ be fresh from a fight.” Loki shot off more ice-spears and then continued, more in a mumbling tone now: “ _I need a hero_. I’m holding out for a _hero_ till the morning light. He’s _gotta_ be sure, and it’s _gotta_ be soon, and he’s _gotta_ be larger than life.”

Suddenly, the shooting of the ‘Sanctuary Ⅱ’ stopped and switched into a different direction. Loki stared up in awe as a glow shot through the ship, multiple times, destroying it and then continuing on to the circle-like ships. Loki laughed softly in surprise. Grounded. That’s what they’d been waiting for, that’s how they wanted Thanos.

**[Iron Man]:** “That’s what I’ve been talking about! That’s one of ours, right?”

**[Rocket]:** “That’s Captain Marvel, Asshat, she’s one of _ours_.”

The glowing woman zipped through the sky, ripping up Chitauri and Leviathans in her path, before setting down close to Loki and Hulk.

“I heard you know Fury”, she shouted towards Loki and Hulk walked them towards her, before letting Loki slide down his arm.

“Big, mysterious, dark with an eyepatch?”, Loki asked her, gesturing and in the end pointing at his own left eye.

“Has a cat that is an alien?”

Loki laughed at that. “Is that _yours_?”

“My predecessor’s.”

Loki smirked and then held out his hand towards her. “Loki Stark, pleasure to meet you.”

“Retired Captain Carol Danvers, ex Air Force.” She shook his hand with a copied smirk.

“Oh, that I can do as well, Prince Loki of Asgard, God of Chaos, at your service.”

She laughed at that.

**[War Machine]:** “Get the talking done when we’re not in the middle of the battle.”

Loki rolled his eyes before pointing at his ear.

“I’ll switch frequencies”, she told him and tapped a little around on her wristband while Hulk made sure the two were left undisturbed.

**[Captain Marvel]:** “Is that better?”

**[Snowflake]:** “A lot. Avengers, got another Air Force here.”

**[War Machine]:** “You’re Human?”

**[Captain Marvel]:** “Kree-Human hybrid.”

**[Falcon]:** “Let me guess, that’s how you got your fancy powers.”

**[Captain Marvel]:** “Almost, ship-explosion, Tesseract.”

**[Iron Man]:** “I guess that means complicated.”

**[War Machine]:** “We’ll talk about it later, Captain Marvel, can we count on your help?”

**[Captain Marvel]:** “Of course. Are you the leader?”

**[War Machine]:** “Technically. If you could take care of the… shit… heavy hitters that would be appreciated.”

**[Captain Marvel]:** “On it, Sir.”

**[Snowflake]:** “Colonel… that would get weird too soon.”

**[Captain Marvel]:** “Colonel. Air Force too?”

**[War Machine]:** “True. Colonel Rhodes.”

**[Captain Marvel]:** “Pleasure. I’ll be at your six.”

With that she flew up in the air again and Loki watched her fly away.

**[Snowflake]:** “He’s the handsome one in the grey full body armour.”

**[Iron Man]:** “Hey, what about me?”

**[Snowflake]:** “My annoying husband is flying the red and gold monstrosity.”

Sam cackled loudly at that, before cursing at the distraction. Hulk grabbed Loki and sat him back onto his shoulder and they got back to fighting, Loki just mostly keeping his back free, while slowly growing exhausted. When he almost dropped off Hulk’s shoulder, The Maximoff twins, Nat, Shar, Trip and Clint had all already taken breaks at a camp sat up by the Mutants.

“Snowman?”, Hulk asked concerned and then tugged Loki into his arm.

**[Hulk]:** “Fast boy.”

**[Quicksilver]:** “What’s up, Hulk?”

**[Hulk]:** “Get Snowman.”

**[Quicksilver]:** “On it.”

**[War Machine]:** “I’m calling a breather for all Avengers anyway. Guardians, can you hold their backs free while they get to the camp?”

**[Star-Lord]:** “You made sure we could take a break, course.”

Hulk started marching towards the camp, more shoving Chitauri out of the way than killing them all while protecting Loki. Carol and Pietro made their own way towards them and when they reached them, Pietro rushed Loki away while Hulk and Carol fought their way back through the Chitauri.

“How’s it looking?”, Loki asked, slowly drinking his energy water, the constant use of his powers was slowly draining him.

“Well, from up top they all look the same”, Rhodey informed him, sitting down in front of him, “It’s not like the dead just suddenly disappear out of existence, so I’m not really sure. All I know is that they are piling up.”

“The Æsir have started carrying off the dead that are far away from the fight”, Thor told him.

“Any losses?”, Loki asked without looking up.

“A few from the armies, I heard that two Ravagers have lost their lives as well and many wounded, the healers are attending to them.”

Loki looked up to see Thor sporting a wounded eye. “You lost an eye”, he said, matter-of-factly.

“Aye.”

Loki chuckled softly and then tugged his brother down, carefully laying his fingers on the other’s face. “Who do I have to kill?”

“It was one of the children. I underestimated how fast she could throw her weapon, I can be glad I only lost my eye.”

“And your hair.”

“Hair will grow back”, Thor told him with a chuckle.

Loki only hummed. “What do the healers say?”

“I have not been.”

That made Loki hit Thor on the back of his head. “Foolish brother mine.”

“They have much to do, this is not a grave wound.”

“But it could become grave if you will not have it looked at.” Loki grabbed Thor’s chin again, before taking a long sip of water and swallowing. Then he closed the bottle and put it away. “Close, this will sting”, he told his brother and then carefully laid his hand over the eyelid. Ice formed around his hand and Thor sighed in soft relief. Worriedly Loki analysed the wound. “It won’t heal, brother, I am sorry.”

“It matters not, it is a wound won in battle.”

“Now you look even more like Father.”

Thor smirked at that. “One of us has to.”

“I’d rather see you the opposite of him than become an exact copy.”

“I will never become him, surely by now you must know that brother.”

“The people will want you to be”, Loki whispered softly, before letting his hands fall away from Thor’s face and popping his bottle open again. Thor placed a soft kiss on Loki’s brow in turn, before getting up and swinging away to carry yet another of the Avengers back to their camp.

It was well in their second phase that Quicksilver got injured and Loki had to take him back to the healers and stepped in as Wanda’s partner.

“He’s okay”, he reassured her, a few paces away from battle, while the young woman was flaring with power. “He’s okay”, he whispered again, laying his hands on her shoulders.

She had torn the people responsible for Pietro’s near-death into tiny pieces. What had once been two of Thanos’ children, according to Gamora the partners Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive, was now little more than dirt.

“It’s okay”, he told her again, “You are still alive, still here.”

A sob broke from her lips and Loki pulled her close.

**[Snowflake]:** “We _really_ have to end this battle.”

**[War Machine]:** “I hear you. Danvers, Gamora and Nebula are beating up Thanos. Tony’s still with the healers after his show-off with… what was he called again?”

**[J.A.R.V.I.S.]:** “Cull Obsidian.”

**[War Machine]:** “Yeah that guy.”

“Can you get your powers under control?”, Loki asked Wanda and she took a few deep breaths, the red disappearing back in her body. She nodded.

**[Snowflake]:** “Alright, We’ll be joining the women, that alright with all of you?”

**[Captain Marvel]:** “It looks more like they are taking all their pent-up frustration out on him, sure, join us.”

Loki nodded and then let Wanda go. “Lead the way, little witch.”

Wanda’s powers flared out again and the cut down enemies in their way while seemingly calmly stalking towards her target. Loki chuckled lowly while striding behind her. When they got there, Thanos was on his kneels, held steady with Captain Marvel’s strength, while Nebula and Gamora were taking their sweet time torturing him, only having to step away to keep off other opposing forces. Wanda quickly took care of those, though her power only seemed to attract the attention of the whole army.

**[White Wolf]:** “You got incoming. Guess the army finally figured out they can’t really function without their leader.”

Loki smirked and then let his hands fall behind his back. “How’s it going with daddy dearest?”, he asked them.

“He is _not_ dear to us”, Nebula growled, piercing another knife through Thanos’ bicep.

“Sarcasm, Sister, had you spent more time on Terra you might have developed an ability to detect it.”

Loki approached the broken down Titan and forced one of his eyes open with a hand. The eye locked on to him quickly enough and Thanos growled loudly, struggling in Carol’s hold.

“A quick death shall not be granted to you, world killer. You have killed trillions upon trillions of innocents. Trillions upon trillions of _children_ , of poor, of those struggling already. You have orphaned many among the universe and their deaths can never be repaid, not even by your own death, not even by the deaths of your soldiers, of your ‘Black Order’. The only thing we can do is make you feel as much pain as they did, before eventually your body will not be able to support you anymore.”

“You are all mad”, growled Thanos, “The worlds need this to be able to survive.”

“By killing half?”

“Adding double would only make them greedy.”

“And that is why you kill _all_? So none can become greedy? That’s why you destroy healthy worlds, so they cannot be ground for another civilisation? The universe is not falling into itself, on the contrary, it’s spreading out, further and further apart.”

“You will all die of this madness”, Thanos pressed out.

“While I _am_ mad, I am not _crazy_ , you genocidal bastard.”

“I am the prophet, I have seen the only way to stop what is coming.”

“You are no prophet, Thanos. Just as I am not the God of Mischief.” Loki took a step back, spreading his arms. “I am the God of _Chaos_. And on this very lovely war-torn day, I am…”, Loki let an ice-spear grow in his right hand, “absolutely”, another spear appeared in his left hand, “thriving.”

He turned and slashed through Outriders, wolf-like beasts and Chitauri Gorillas that were at least twice Loki’s size.

“My people died as they did not listen!”, Thanos shouted behind.

“They should have found a better way to solve the problem then!”, Loki shouted back, still piercing through monsters, before hearing his brother setting down at his side and helping him.

“There’s only _this_ way!”, Thanos tried to tell him and Loki turned, grabbing Thanos by the throat.

“There is _always_ another way! You are just too blind to see it, you fool!”

“Good idea”, Nebula told him with a smirk before she and her sister both used a knife to pierce the eyes of the Titan. Surprised, Loki took a few steps back.

“Well, that was a bit of an overkill, wasn’t it, ladies?”

“He’s not dead yet”, Gamora told him.

“Do you wanna do the honours?”, Nebula asked and Loki looked at her.

“If you’d allow me”, he replied and both sisters nodded in agreement. Loki conjured his poisoned dagger, his antidote already, if he were to injure one of his friends. “I thank you for this honour”, he spoke.

In almost a dance, Loki stepped towards Thanos and pierced his dagger into Thanos’ throat, before, slowly, carefully, as life left the Titan, ripping him apart with ice forming from his hand. Wanda, Nebula, Gamora and Carol stepped back, watching in awe as Thanos slowly got encased in ice, before Loki ripped his dagger out of the dead man, seeing him fall apart in front of his eyes.

**[Snowflake]:** “The beast is dead.”

Nebula smirked. “That was satisfying to watch, I’m glad we let you have your piece.”

“What about the Infinity Stones?”, Carol asked.

“The Power Stone goes to the Guardians for them to bury wherever they wish. The Time and Space Stone are protected. The Mind Stone has given life to an Android and the Reality Stone? We’ll seal it again. Odin will put more wards around it, that it can’t even be detected by our methods.”

Carol nodded, satisfied and Loki looked around where their forces were slowly beating the last of Thanos’ forces into submission.

“I guess we still got some cleaning up to do.”

“Not you”, Wanda spoke, grabbing Loki’s wrist and turning it over to reveal his flaring arm. “Thor, can you bring him back to his husband?”, she asked the still slightly stunned Thor.

“Of course.” Thor quickly stepped forward, grabbing Loki around the waist, making the younger brother growl in frustration.

“I _hate_ flying with you”, Loki hissed, but the blonde ignored him and swung Mjølnir.

Quickly he brought Loki towards the camp, where several injured Avengers were laying, getting treated by Trip, Sharon and Clint, who had thankfully been spared. James had been kneeling at Sam’s side the last time Loki had been here, around the time he had brought Pietro back. Sam had gotten shot down and in an attempt to catch him, Rhodey had been shot down as well. Tony had been able to catch the severely less armoured of the two and in the end given his right arm for it, while Rhodey would probably never walk again. While this would probably result in many therapy sessions for Sam, Tony was already working on making Rhodey walk again and a prosthetic was probably already in the works on Earth.

With an exhausted sigh, Loki slid in next to the only of the four injured that was awake at the moment. Loki had made Tony an illusion of a right arm so that he would not be distracted while working and it had been made steady with the help of an armoured arm. Theoretically while it was connected to his command, Tony would be able to use it, but it would always look odd if he tried, so it was in a sling.

“So”, Tony whispered, pulling Loki out of his thoughts, “he’s dead.”

“Yes. In pieces.”

“Good. I wanna go home.”

Loki looked out where dead soldiers were sorted and transported off, only in the distance still seemingly some fighting going on. “It probably won’t be long.”

“I wonder what we’ll do now, since we killed the biggest asshole of the universe.”

“I think we’ll find some way to spend our day”, Loki said and pulled Tony into a deep kiss.

\- The End -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The spin-off isn't done yet, but I'll post it in the series, so if you're interested, subscribe to that. It's mostly around what happened while the Avengers were away and (by now) going into what happens when they eventually come back. It's right in the time where originally Spider-Man: Homecoming would have happened, so that might be something to look forward to.

**Author's Note:**

> I love getting comments and appreciate questions a lot, so feel free to ask :)


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